Everyone You Love Is A Sith
by ByteHoarder
Summary: Rejected by Qui-Gon Jinn at thirteen, Obi-Wan Kenobi instead gets a different master and starts on a radically different path. Years later, the new Junior Senator for Bandomeer arrives on Coruscant and Qui-Gon Jinn takes a new apprentice, Anakin Skywalker. [Sith!Obi-Wan] [Anakin/Padmé] [Obi-Wan/Satine] [Obi-Wan/Siri] [Obi-Wan/Bo-Katan]
1. The Junior Senator

**A/N — First of all, apologies to anyone getting an alert for this because they followed me for my Ben Ten fanfics. Completely different fandom, completely different story, so I get that maybe you'd be annoyed to be notified for this. That's why I _also_ published another Ben Ten fic, so go check that out!**

**That out of the way, I guess I should clear up some stuff. This is a fic heavily inspired by Lincoln Six Echo's _Revenge of a Sith _(here on FFN) but taken in a rather different direction. I sometimes see people talk about a "Sith!AU" or something similar where all our favorite main characters (those being, mainly, the two trios of the PT and the OT) turn to the dark side but I never really see fics about that. This is that fic… sort of. Unfortunately we won't really get to see Sith!Luke and Sith!Leia (love Sith!Leia; she's so perfect for it) here, since it's mainly a Prequels-era fic, but I wrote this to have fun with it. Anyway, the first chapter is probably the most similar to LSE's _Revenge of a Sith _but should diverge substantially from there.**

**And just to get this out of the way, yes, it is a multi-pairing for Obi-Wan, just like the inspiration for the fic. It won't be a smut fest but Obi-Wan does get to be with multiple love interests. Think of it as compensation for having three love interests die in his arms (no, we aren't bringing Cerasi in).**

**Last of all, I need to say that as of publishing this chapter I have five chapters fully written out of about… eight or so I figure for this fic in total. I plan to update the fic weekly so that gives me about five weeks or so to get it done. Shouldn't be too bad, since I have the outline planned out.**

**Now, onwards!**

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_**Everyone You Love Is A Sith:**_

•

**Chapter I: **_The Junior Senator_

•

Darth Renova was dead.

Not yet, but having been stabbed through it was now an inevitability. The lightsaber of Darth Plagueis' mysterious apprentice, Sidious, had severed his spine cleanly below the shoulders and it was now only his mastery of the Force that kept Renova alive. That, however, would fail him as it failed all eventually. Soon his nervous system would shut down entirely, and then he would die. Already he could not feel most of his body, and his concentration was bent upon keeping his heart beating and his lungs breathing, just to hold on for a few moments more.

All in the hope of seeing his apprentice one final time.

It was somewhat ironic that he had been struck down by Darth Sidious. Perhaps it was merely delayed punishment for Darth Tenebrous' transgression in training not merely a second apprentice, as the Sith of Bane's line were forbidden to do, but also, in secret, a third. His first was Darth Plagueis', Sidious' master; the second Darth Venamis, who had tried and failed to usurp Plagueis' place as apprentice. The third and last was Darth Renova himself, who had stayed in the shadows. Darth Bane's rule had been only two Sith and Tenebrous had broken it liberally. Now Renova was paying the price. Plagueis had never known his master had trained a third apprentice, and so Sidious had never known the man he had just struck down was another Sith. Renova, at least, took some satisfaction in that. To the end, Sidious had thought him only Ben Cortess, eccentric heir to a mining fortune.

When Plagueis had at last become unnecessary to Sidious' plans, whatever they now were, Renova's only peer as Sith Master had been slain and Sidious had taken his place. And now here he was, struck down unwittingly himself to further some small scheme of Sidious' for which he was at best a minor inconvenience. The thought that Sidious would probably never know who it was he had killed was amusing in some dark, cosmic way.

Now he waited for the only one who could avenge him: Darth Consilus.

Despite his best intentions, Renova had grown to love the boy. He was a cautious man by nature, surviving not merely the paranoia of Plagueis, Sidious, and Tenebrous but the assassination attempts of three apprentices of his own. A long and bitter life had hardened Renova's heart the way every Sith's heart should be hardened, yet for all that the boy he had found on Bandomeer had found his way into it and never left.

Perhaps it was because he was so unlike the apprentices Renova had trained before. He had been full of anger, yes, but the boy had also been defined by a deep and abiding loyalty, a fundamental capacity to trust and love. Perhaps that was why the Jedi had cast him out, but even if he could bring himself to intellectually think it plausible Renova could never fathom actually believing in rejecting such a gifted student of the Force. Had the Jedi trained him, Renova knew his apprentice would have become a great Jedi Master, but it would have been a waste. Just as the life of a farmer and miner would never have done Consilus well, so too would the shackles of Jedi life ill-suited him. Perhaps he would have found more greatness than as a farmer, but it would have been a waste either way.

Renova could not stand waste.

So it was that he had taken the boy under his wing and trained him and never once had Renova regretted his choice. Consilus was so dedicated, so hungry for knowledge, so gifted that Renova had little doubt his apprentice would one day surpass the greatest of the Sith. Unlike the rest of the Sith of Bane's line, however, Consilus would never walk the path of paranoia and betrayal. He was completely and totally loyal to his master as Sidious hadn't been to Plagueis. Consilus would do anything for Renova not out of fear of pain or punishment but because he loved his master and his master loved him in turn.

Darth Bane had no use for such things, Renova knew. That great Sith who had founded and guided their Order for the last millennium considered, as all Sith did, love to be a weakness. It provided weak points for opponents to exploit, and a Sith could be nothing but totally independent, a power unto themselves. It was the only way to avoid defeat.

Renova's mouth twisted into a bitter smile as he considered the irony. It seemed not to have occurred to any of the other Sith that they all _had _been defeated anyway. They also, he knew, had not considered the other side. It was because he loved that he would be avenged, for nothing else would drive his apprentice to avenge him otherwise. Had he remained independent and alone, Renova would have died and remained alone and unmourned, powerless.

They also, apparently, had not fully appreciated the benefits of trust. The Sith before Bane had been disunited and paranoid, their knowledge always being lost and rediscovered for fear of giving their rivals an edge. Bane's line had no rivals and so complete knowledge had been passed intact from master to apprentice, growing with each generation — so long as the Sith Master did not become too selfish. Fear — of his inevitable end at the hands of his apprentice — could push him to deny his apprentice and succeeding Sith the knowledge that was so rightfully theirs. It had happened before and would happen again.

Renova had never had this problem with Consilus. He had never feared the younger man would strike him down or usurp him. He trusted Consilus completely, and so he had passed all he knew to the boy without regret or hesitation. There was something ironic in the fact it was not dissimilar to the ways of the Jedi, but being the hypocrites they were the Jedi had always denied the strength of the relationship of master and apprentice, as they denied all relationships.

Footsteps were coming towards him and Renova opened his eyes but couldn't move his head. He felt Consilus' vibrant, strong presence in the Force, for once unmuted and unshielded, and felt it color with distress and anguish as it raced towards him. Strong young hands appeared under his neck and his body was gently maneuvered so that he was staring into the bright, blue-grey eyes of his apprentice.

For all that Consilus' face was twisted with pain, however, Renova could only find himself filling with a strange sense of peace. There was fear, yes, of death as all Sith secretly feared it, but after decades he had finally accepted his own mortality. Death was inevitable, and in the end he had fared better than most and probably better than he deserved. He would be remembered and missed. It seemed like little, but it was enough. The desires for greatness and power suddenly seemed so juvenile.

"Master?" Consilus whispered, pain coloring the word. Renova tried to smile and didn't know if he succeeded.

"My… apprentice…"

"Who did this to you?" the young man demanded.

"You… know…" Renova wheezed. "You know…"

Consilus' fists clenched and his eyes suddenly blazed bright and yellow as the dark side coursed through him. "Sidious," he said through gritted teeth.

"Yes…" Renova whispered. "As you said…"

"Did you see who he was, Master?" Consilus asked, eyes fading to their blues as concern and desperation replaced his anger.

"No…"

Tears filled Consilus' eyes. "Why did you send me away, Master?" he demanded, and Renova could feel his apprentice trying to keep his anger at him at bay. "I could have protected you."

"No…" Renova gasped. "Not… strong enough."

"Together, Master," Consilus begged. "Together we would have been."

Renova chuckled but it turned into a cough. "I… am old…" he whispered. "Not… even together."

Consilus grit his teeth, trying to stop his tears from flowing freely. "Damn it," he hissed. "We could have, Master. We _could have."_

"That… is your destiny," Renova murmured. "Not now… not soon… but you can… defeat him. The Sith… will rule the Republic… Sidious will… plot this. You… know of him… but he does… not know of you. Avenge me…"

Consilus nodded shakily. "Yes, Master. I will. I will."

"Good…"

Renova exhaled his last breath and then was still.

––––––/––––––

The Sith had returned. That was what Obi-Wan Kenobi's contacts at the Jedi Temple told him. As he sat in the small senatorial apartment set aside for junior senators, the new Chancellor's speech playing in the background, he found himself almost amused by the report he read. What were the odds that Qui-Gon Jinn, the Jedi who had sealed Obi-Wan's fate, would be the one to face down the Sith?

And win, somehow. Obi-Wan didn't know whether that was a poor reflection on Sidious' training — as he had little doubt the Sith killed on Naboo was Sidious' apprentice — or merely the prowess of Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. In the end he supposed it didn't really matter. What mattered was that the Jedi now knew the Sith had survived their purges oh so long ago. Doubtless it would make things more difficult for Obi-Wan himself, but then the Jedi never had sensed him as having turned to the dark side.

"He'll do well, don't you think, Obi-Wan?" Senator Andes of Bandomeer asked from Obi-Wan's couch, breaking the young man's train of thought.

"Hmm?" Obi-Wan asked, looking up distractedly. Then he focused on the Chancellor — Palpatine, the feed said — giving his speech. "Oh, yes, very well, I'm sure," he replied disinterestedly.

"Do you think I ought to enter the Chancellor's inner circle? His favor could be quite important for Bandomeer."

Obi-Wan frowned and concentrated on his diplomatic superior. _You will not show him more support than normal, _he sent to the man. _You will keep your distance._

Andes frowned. "You know, giving it more thought, I think I'll keep my distance. Galactic politics is a dangerous business, m'boy. We'll wait and see what kind of man the new Chancellor is."

Obi-Wan smiled. "I think that's very wise, Senator." _You have something to do in your office._

"Oh!" Andes exclaimed. "I think I've stayed too long, Obi-Wan. I just remembered I have something urgent to do… though I can't remember what it is." The white-haired gentleman smiled tremulously. "I'm getting old, Obi-Wan! You'll have to stick by me to keep me from embarrassing myself."

"Always, Senator," the young man replied, graciously showing the Senator the way out to his own apartment. Senators got much larger and nicer apartments than junior senators, but Obi-Wan didn't begrudge the harmless old Andes his comforts. Some disparities were a small price to pay for using the man as he did, but then Obi-Wan had probably kept Andes political career going a decade longer than the man could have done himself. It was mutually beneficial, in a way.

Still, there was something pleasing about controlling Andes as he did. A penchant for minds was something of a gift of Obi-Wan's and it was good to see a job well done. His control over Andes was perfect, the man appearing only as a slightly doddery, absent-minded old man who was essentially harmless, a politician genuinely concerned about his small world in the way only Outer Rimmers could be.

He was necessary for Obi-Wan's plan. Years in the making, Andes was a pawn in a much larger game that the ever-patient Obi-Wan was playing. Aside from the Sith grand plan to take over the Galactic Republic, Renova had been quite sure, after years of investigations, that the mysterious apprentice of his rival Sith Lord Plagueis, Darth Sidious, was in the Galactic Senate. So it was that Obi-Wan had to be there too.

Obi-Wan's heart constricted at the thought of his master.

Ben Cortess, the never-known Sith Lord Darth Renova, had been so many things to him: mentor, friend, confessor, even almost a father. It was no surprise that Obi-Wan had grown to love the man dearly. He had given Obi-Wan everything he had never known he wanted. He had taught him the Force, its intricacies and subtleties, as Obi-Wan had wanted as a Jedi. He had taught him the art of lightsaber combat, never depriving his apprentice of anything, even when Obi-Wan had taken better to the defensive Third Form, Soresu, rather than offensive forms that Sith favored. More than that, he had shown him what the Jedi had always denied: love. Obi-Wan was not told to repress his nature as a man, as a sentient being. He was free to care and love and be passionate and before Renova Obi-Wan had never known the Jedi had been so repressing, so unnatural, so wrong. How could they condemn what he had had with his master? How could they claim it was the right life for every Force-sensitive?

He'd found Obi-Wan only shortly after his last hopes for becoming a Jedi Knight had ended, on Bandomeer. Aged out and never chosen, Obi-Wan had been sent to work as a farmer with the Jedi AgriCorps, an organization that had seen fit to place him amongst strangers and mining-ravaged land. He had briefly had hope when Qui-Gon Jinn had also come to Bandomeer, but the man had refused Obi-Wan yet again, ensuring Obi-Wan would never be a Jedi.

Those months had been torturous. He had been nothing but a teenage boy taken from his family before he could even remember them and then ejected from those meant to be surrogates. He had been cut off from his friends and had lost the only home he had ever known. Moreover, he had also lost his dreams. Obi-Wan had only ever wanted to be a Jedi Knight and for all his skill, all his drive, all his willingness to learn he had been denied. The Jedi teachings that had been indoctrinated in him since infancy told him he ought to be content with his life, but Obi-Wan had barely been a Jedi and had a sick certainty he was not meant to be a farmer.

Eventually he had left the AgriCorps. The Jedi didn't really worry about those leaving the Order if they lacked most important training and there had been no fuss with Obi-Wan going, something that had stung almost as much as never being selected. Some part of him had wanted the Jedi to protest, to want him to stay if for no other reason than to prove that he wasn't totally meaningless to them, that all his efforts hadn't meant nothing.

After leaving had been a life of poverty. He was an almost-fourteen year-old with no real skills and no money and all he had wanted was a trip to Stewjon. He had been told it was his homeworld and with nowhere else to go Obi-Wan hoped his birth family would take him back. Then again, if they had so easily given him up who knew what they would do? It didn't really matter, as he had no other options. So he had scrounged and saved every credit he could to travel to Stewjon.

Until Ben Cortess had found him. Wealthy heir to a mining fortune, it wasn't really surprising for the man to appear on Bandomeer, a world dominated by mining. What was strange was for him to take an interest in a beggar-boy, but Obi-Wan hadn't looked a gift-horse in the mouth. Nevertheless, the strangeness of the silver-haired man with piercing green eyes put something in Obi-Wan on alert. He hadn't refused when the man had offered to buy him a meal, however.

At first Cortess had only been interested in talking with him, most specifically his situation. Obi-Wan's impeccable Coreworld, even Coruscanti, accent seemed to intrigue the man who thought it was very out of place for an Outer Rim urchin. So Obi-Wan had told him his situation — that he was an ex-Jedi Initiate who hadn't been deemed worthy of training to Knighthood, that he had been sent to Bandomeer as a farmer, that he had left, and that he was trying to find his way home.

That had been it for some time. Cortess had merely watched Obi-Wan desperately eat all he would buy him. Then Obi-Wan had felt something shift in the Force, something drawing him to the man. When he had looked at Cortess he had thought it seemed as though the man had come to a decision, and when he looked into those green eyes he hadn't found himself repelled.

So it was that Obi-Wan had become a Sith Apprentice. Cortess hadn't waited long to tell him, but even so Obi-Wan had already suspected. There were few Force-users who weren't Jedi, and fewer still who had little fear of the dark side. It hadn't pushed him away, however. Perhaps he was a bad Jedi, but the Jedi had rejected him while Cortess had shown him only kindness. How could the Jedi make demands of him and how he behaved when they rejected him so thoroughly?

The years had been long and hard. Cortess was not cruel, but his training had demanded much of Obi-Wan. It pushed him to his limits and past them, almost killing him several times, yet Obi-Wan wouldn't have traded it for anything. It was what was required to forge him into the Sith he needed to be, to temper and mold him until he surpassed all others. It was what was required to make him better than any Jedi.

Lost in his thoughts, Obi-Wan almost didn't notice the change in the holofeed until the face of Qui-Gon Jinn appeared. Apparently the Nubians were throwing an enormous festival in honor of their Jedi savior, and Obi-Wan felt mixed feelings fill his gut. On the one hand, Qui-Gon's rejections had given him more than he had ever wanted, but on the other had been completely unjust. What right did the Jedi have to take him from his family and then deny him?

Obi-Wan didn't know whether to feel envious of or sorry for the boy almost hiding in Qui-Gon's shadow. It was certain the boy didn't know of Qui-Gon's past or reputation, and Obi-Wan wondered whether Qui-Gon would prove a better master when he actually chose a student instead of being pressured towards one. A part of him couldn't help but wonder what this boy had that he did not — what he had so much of that Qui-Gon would apparently defy the Jedi Code to train him.

He calmed himself. The time of the Jedi would come.

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**Last edited: 2019/3**


	2. Lovers

**A/N — I meant to publish this a few hours ago but it's still roughly on time.**

**Not sure if I should bump the rating up to M just for this chapter, but this is the raciest stuff in the fic and _Revenge of a Sith _is rated T so I think we should be fine.**

**We're still setting things up so still no real action. I hope the time-skips aren't too confusing but I did do my best to mark them without actually just dating each time-skip.**

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**Chapter II: **_Lovers_

•

The ruins of the slavers' headquarters filled Consilus with a grim sort of satisfaction as he walked through the rubble. The organization had been caught abducting children from Bandomeer and when the Sith Lord had heard a group of Mandalorians had been hired under the table to deal with the slavers he had discreetly pulled some strings to see to it he would be shortly behind them — for a fee. Still, the Force pulled Consilus to the slavers for a reason beyond the kidnapped Bandomeerans, and though he was making sure they were safe he was sure there was something else.

"Sir," one of the Mandalorians said, coming up to the man she knew as Obi-Wan Kenobi. "We've found someone in the lower levels. A Jedi, we think."

That got Consilus' attention. "A Jedi? Are you sure?"

"She had a lightsaber and the slavers we interrogated were convinced she was a Jedi plant. They've been torturing her."

"Show me," Consilus ordered and the Mandalorian wasted no time in doing so. They had great respect for Obi-Wan as he had trained and fought among them and worked frequently with them as a… concerned Bandomeeran representative. In the Outer Rim the law of the Republic could seldom be relied on and so Consilus and his predecessors were no strangers to dealing with bounty hunters and mercenaries. After Renova and Consilus had been done with them, there were few better mercenaries than Kryze and her group.

Kryze led him quickly down deep into the fortress the slavers had used for their base. She was a few years younger than he was, but even in her early twenties Bo-Katan was a force to be reckoned with. Consilus appreciated that she didn't flinch at all seeing what she did inside the cell, though he wouldn't have blamed her for doing so. Still, Mandalorians were a tough bunch.

The cell was large, no doubt to accommodate instruments of torture, and in the center of it was a device that surprised Consilus. Force-suppressors were rare and expensive technology, but somehow the slavers had managed to acquire one. Its use was prudent, however: there were few other ways to properly restrain a Jedi. And a Jedi she was. Stripped to the waist with breasts bare, she was caked in blood and covered with deep welts and lacerations. The slavers were clearly crude but imaginative in their tortures, and the suspended woman was quite unrecognizable with her red hair and green eyes.

Nevertheless, something about her tickled Consilus' memory, and he allowed the Force to flow through him. Bo-Katan quickly let the girl down, disabling the Force-suppressor, and Consilus concentrated on the woman. As he attuned himself to the Living Force, he stretched his senses towards her and was surprised to feel she was somewhat familiar. Her presence had changed much over the years, but Consilus strained his memory and eventually emerged with a name. Siri Tachi, a girl he had known as a Jedi Initiate. Evidently she had been chosen after he had not, though what she was doing in the dungeon of slavers was beyond him.

His touch in the Force seemed to awaken her, and she blinked slowly to stare at him. To his surprise, she recognized him instantly. "Obi-Wan?" she asked. Then she began coughing and spluttering, throat no doubt injured from screaming. Bo-Katan quickly gave her some water, and after a time Tachi was able to talk again. "You're really here," she murmured, tears welling up in her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"A better question is what _you're _doing here," Obi-Wan replied. "This is no place for a Jedi Padawan."

Tachi blinked the tears away and grimaced. "I was infiltrating the slaver ring. They… tricked me. They realized I was a Jedi. I guess my act wasn't convincing enough."

Obi-Wan made a show of looking around at the destroyed compound, the bodies of slavers still strewn about. "I'd say that mission is over," he told her.

"She'll need extensive treatment," Bo-Katan finally pronounced, turning to look up at Obi-Wan from where she was leaning over Tachi.

Obi-Wan's brow furrowed. "Very well. Sedate her." He turned slightly to stare at Tachi again. "I'm sorry about this, my dear."

Tachi tried to make a sound but couldn't get it out before the sedatives Bo-Katan had injected in her neck did their work. The would-be Jedi collapsed, allowing the Mandalorian watching over her to cover her naked chest with a blanket. Two more Mandalorians followed shortly afterwards, and Tachi was taken out on a stretcher, Obi-Wan following sedately behind.

Having a Jedi, a former friend, was an unexpected gift for Darth Consilus.

•

It was several weeks later that Tachi was well enough to be awake and talk extensively, and though she was still bound to a wheelchair for the time being she accepted Obi-Wan's offer to talk. Obi-Wan sensed there was some trepidation on her part and suspected why, but when Tachi instead asked about his own life and how he had fared after being sent to the AgriCorps Obi-Wan happily indulged her until they had gone quite far on his humble estate.

Bandomeer had once been a world of modest natural beauty, and, though the mining had spoiled that, with the corporations leaving and the various reclamation efforts some of that beauty was returning. The rugged highlands of the estate Obi-Wan had taken for himself were not the most beautiful even he had seen as a Jedi Initiate, but the majesty of nature was still present. In the crisp winter afternoon with her natural blonde hair starting to grow back out, Tachi was quite a fetching sight, Obi-Wan thought.

Finally, Obi-Wan grew tired of telling stories and sat on a bench on the stone balcony they had stopped at, Tachi beside him. "So, I take it this mission was to count for your Trials for Knighthood," he said conversationally.

Tachi's blue eyes didn't meet his. "Yes. I think I failed."

"Because you Fell?"

Tachi's head snapped around to stare at him, wide-eyed. "How did–––?"

"I sense the dark side in you," Obi-Wan told her sincerely, and Tachi blanched. "You can tell me." He stared at her. "What you've been through is awful and refusing that power would have been a terrible burden. There are few Jedi Knights who can resist the dark side under extreme torture." The Fallen Jedi sat silently. "It's nothing to be ashamed of…" Obi-Wan told her. "When you felt the dark side in that dungeon I can't imagine most Jedi would be able to dispel it — after being tortured and tortured, the Jedi never coming… They were going to leave you there until you died, until–––"

"Stop!" Tachi cried. "Stop!" There were tears in her eyes, and Obi-Wan was mildly surprised to see they had turned a bright, glowing gold. Such a color indicated far more than a simple turn to the dark side — Tachi lived on it, _thrived _on it. Obi-Wan himself hadn't had eyes of Sith gold for years after beginning his dark side training, but then he had been a young teenager. Tachi blinked and it disappeared, her normal bright blues returning. "I know," she said brokenly. "I know." Then she looked at him. "Kenobi… Obi-Wan…" she started. "Please don't tell anyone. _Please. _I can't… If they… The Jedi are my _home…"_

Obi-Wan looked at her with pity. "Tachi… Siri, I won't tell anyone." She almost sobbed with relief. "But Siri… You know they won't let you back."

"They will!" she cried. "I've never betrayed the Jedi! It… It was just a slip! They'll see that!"

"You know they won't," Obi-Wan said as gently as he could. "A slip in a moment of passion subsequently rejected is one thing… but you've never let it go. The dark side is strong in you, Siri."

"Obi-Wan, please," she begged. "They'll know. They can't reject me like–––"

"Like they rejected me?" Obi-Wan asked, and Siri reeled as though struck.

"Obi-Wan, no! I didn't mean–––"

"You're right," Obi-Wan told her. "They would reject you _just_ like they rejected me. You don't matter to them, Siri. One mistake is all it takes and that's it for you. You've Fallen, Siri."

"I can come back!" Siri exclaimed fiercely. "I can reject the dark side! They'll never have to know!"

"Can you?" Obi-Wan asked, rubbing his clean-shaven chin. "You've tasted it, now. 'Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.' You know what will happen to you."

Siri's lip trembled. "I have nowhere else, Obi-Wan."

Consilus finally made up his mind. "Stay with me."

"What?"

"Stay with me," he repeated. "I can teach you more than the Jedi ever could. Be my apprentice." He held out his hand to her.

Siri looked at him in bewilderment for a moment then her eyes lit in realization. "You're a Sith…" she murmured, shaking her head. With trembling hands, she wheeled herself backwards, trying to get away from him as a look of horror dawned on her face. "You're a Sith…"

"I am," Obi-Wan told her, not bothering to deny her shrewd deduction. "Are you going to turn me in to the Jedi?"

"I will!" Siri hissed fiercely. "Then they–––"

"What?" Obi-Wan asked. "They'll do to me what they'll do to you. We're both tainted by the dark side and both Fallen Jedi. What do you think they'll do? Throw me in a prison and pat you on the back for bringing me in? And for what? What have I done, Siri?"

"You're a Sith!" she screamed at him. "The Sith murder, and lie, and cheat, and torture! That's what the dark side _does!"_

"Have you done that?" Obi-Wan asked.

Siri trembled again. "I… I can stop it…"

"If you can, why can't I? Siri, I'm still your friend from all those years ago."

Tears were flowing down her cheeks. "You're a Sith, Obi-Wan," she cried desperately, as if trying to will him to understand. "I… I don't want to… but it's my duty. You… Fell. You betrayed us…"

For the first time Consilus felt angry. "The Jedi betrayed _me,_" he spat and Siri looked taken aback at his sudden change in attitude. Consilus calmed himself. "I'm sorry. It's still a somewhat sore subject," he said quietly, smiling at her ruefully. "But Siri, I haven't done anything you haven't. The Jedi abandoned you to torture and death; are you going to believe everything they say still? You knew me. Do you really think I could change so much?"

Siri's face crumpled miserably. "The Sith _lie, _Obi-Wan," she cried. "That's what they do. You could be lying to me right now. What if I accept and then change my mind? Would you kill me?"

"Siri," Obi-Wan said quietly and earnestly, "even if I wanted you dead you're in no shape to stop it. Training with me would only make you more able to survive. Why would I wait until training you?" They stared at each other, Siri looking desperately like she wanted to find some way to refuse, and Obi-Wan broke away first. "I won't force your choice. Until you recover and are able to leave, the option is available to you." He paused. "Choose wisely, Siri. I don't want to see you trapped in a Jedi cell for the rest of your life."

Siri nodded silently, but didn't reply.

•

Panting filled the opulent room of the residential wing of Sundari Palace, the brilliant moonlight of Concordia high in the sky filtering through the exquisite blinds to gently fall upon the two naked bodies tangled on the bed. Gently, an Obi-Wan Kenobi just a few years older, short beard gracing his face, extricated himself from the Grand Duchess' beautiful form to lie back upon the bed, sated, and the Grand Duchess herself rolled onto her other side to curl herself into her lover, stroking the Sith's chest.

"I love you so dearly, Obi," she murmured against his flushed torso, placing gentle kisses just above his still-pounding heart.

"I love you too, Satine, darling," Obi-Wan whispered, responding to her ministrations by kissing the top of her blonde head. Satine Kryze was the elder of the two Kryze sisters and the second Obi-Wan had met, during the resurgence of the Mandalorian Civil War after her father had been killed and Satine, as the new Grand Duchess, had been forced on the run. Ben Cortess had offered the teenage Duchess sanctuary and means to secure her position in Mandalore, and after more brutal fighting the Duchess had accepted.

Unlike with Bo-Katan, she and Obi-Wan had hated each other at first, disagreeing about nearly everything. As they had gotten older, however, Satine had grown out of her childish notions and come to accept how the world worked — what the peace she so desperately wanted required — while Obi-Wan had grown to admire her dedication and vision that went so far beyond his own. With his intimate associations with the Mandalorians as a warrior and political force, Obi-Wan and Satine had grown to see more and more of each other. After some years, neither could deny a mutual attraction and when Satine's advisors had finally started pressuring her to marry and secure her throne she had only had one choice in mind. Obi-Wan, naturally, had accepted.

"And how goes the training of your Jedi friend?" Satine asked after some while.

"She's as good as I remember her," Obi-Wan replied, thinking about his new apprentice. Darth Rheva, as he had named Siri Tachi, had progressed as fast as he had dreamed in the years since she had joined him as his first Sith Apprentice. Her strength in the Force and especially the dark side was immense, for she drew on a deep well of passion that sometimes astonished Obi-Wan in its abundance. That was not even mentioning her lightsaber skills, which Obi-Wan felt that, with time, would be among the best in history.

Their start had been rocky, with Siri having more lingering loyalty to the Jedi than Obi-Wan had had after being cast out. Nevertheless, the deeper into the dark side she delved and the more she learned from Consilus, the more Consilus knew Rheva wanted to stay. The Jedi could never teach her so much, as he had told her, and Rheva had proved it time and again. And as with his own master Consilus had been sure to instill in her a deep sense of loyalty between them, nurturing their bond as master and apprentice whenever he could.

"She's quite spectacular," he murmured again. "The best apprentice I could've hoped for."

Satine chuckled against him. "_Just _an apprentice?" she asked, turning her head up to stare into her husband's eyes.

"What are you implying?" he asked with a sly grin.

"Come now, husband, I'm sure you've noticed the looks she's been giving you."

Obi-Wan had indeed. As the years had passed and he and Siri had grown closer than they had even as children, Obi-Wan could feel the pressing desires of the master-apprentice bond to grow beyond merely those limits. With his own master, Renova, the man had come to be almost an adoptive father to him, but Obi-Wan knew the bond between him and Siri pushed for no such relationship.

"I have resisted," Obi-Wan said, breaking the kiss Satine had leaned up to give him. "But it _is _difficult." Satine grinned at him when she felt his heart begin to throb again and his body respond to her touches. She kissed him again, a deep and passionate one after the gentle, affectionate ones they had been sharing, and only broke it off with a laugh when Obi-Wan groaned under her.

"Why, Kenobi, two Mandalorian sisters not enough for you?"

"I was under the impression it was something of a Mandalorian tradition for a man to take many wives," Obi-Wan replied. "In fact, I seem to remember a certain Grand Duchess begging me to marry her sister…" He pushed Satine over from where she was straddling him so he could force her down in the bed, then leaned down to whisper in his wife's ear. "She told me she found it very… _attractive _that her husband had… _conquered _many women. I suppose it's just a Mandalorian thing."

"Mmmm," Satine moaned happily. "I love that you want to be loyal, Obi," she groaned. "But neither myself nor my sister have any problem with you and Siri."

"Well," Obi-Wan murmured into her shoulder as he reached a spot she particularly liked, "as long as my beautiful wives are happy…" He nipped at her. "But perhaps I should remind you just how much I love my wife to be sure."

Satine didn't give a verbal reply.

•

Some time later, in a different bed on a different planet, Obi-Wan and Siri lay curled up together and enjoying the quiet of one of Obi-Wan's many Coruscanti safe-houses, listening to the muffled noise of traffic go by.

"I've seen some reports that you're the new Senator for Bandomeer, Master," Siri murmured, playing idly with Obi-Wan's hair.

"Yes, darling, and please not master in bed."

Siri smirked at him. "What, having a hot Jedi-turned-Sith apprentice calling you master as you dominate her in bed doesn't get you going?"

Obi-Wan's embrace tightened around her as he fought down his arousal. "You know that's not true, but we don't have to always be master and apprentice, Siri."

Siri just rolled her eyes with a smirk on her face. Still caught up in their recent passions, they glowed gold in the dim of the apartment instead of the blue-green Obi-Wan found so attractive. "Anyway, I don't know how you could stand to wait this long."

Obi-Wan chuckled. "I thought Jedi Padawans were supposed to value patience."

"I'm not a Jedi anymore," Siri pointed out.

"Indeed," Obi-Wan murmured, running his fingers along Siri's skin. "But it was necessary. I needed a reputation and a story none would question. Now I'm Andes' obvious successor, and it was hardly like he ran things before. Still, the time has finally come. The war Sidious wants is coming. I can feel it. This secessionist movement that's brewing under Count Dooku can only be his doing. It won't be long before some systems attempt to secede from the Republic."

Siri frowned. "Will there really be war?"

"Yes," Obi-Wan replied simply. "The Republic's time is over. Even if the Sith had not worked to help it end it would only have put it off a few years. Decades, at best," he added as an afterthought. "Now all that is left is to transform it according to Sith design. To form the Empire. War is the best catalyst for that."

"Do you think the Jedi will prevent it?"

Obi-Wan snorted. "They'd be more likely to instate a youngling as Grandmaster than prevent the war. War is an inevitability." He chuckled to himself, then he peered down at Darth Rheva. "How are you coping, being again near the heart of the Jedi Order?"

Siri shivered and closed her eyes. "It's… a trial, Master." When she opened her eyes again the golden glow was even brighter in the dark. "But none of them have sensed anything. They don't react at all to my presence."

"The dark side clouds their vision. It's why I can walk freely amongst them — most even think I'm a staid and loyal supporter of the Jedi Order, even though they cast me out." There was no reply, and Obi-Wan looked over to see that Siri was raking her gaze over his form hungrily. Her reignited passion, something she had in such abundance, had put her back in the mood and Consilus knew his apprentice was getting… frisky.

"I don't want to dwell on depressing subjects tonight," Rheva said, sliding her form on top of Consilus'. "Fuck me instead."

* * *

**Last edited: 2019/4**


	3. Skywalker

**A/N — Yeah, we're still in setup mostly but now that we've introduced Anakin (and Padmé!) and the Clone Wars have started the story should hopefully be more exciting. And before anyone points it out, yes, I know "Nubian" technically in Star Wars doesn't refer to Naboo but with their ships (and the fact that the technical Nubians are essentially irrelevant) it streamlines things to just fold them in; it makes Naboo more interesting to actually have a starship industry anyway.**

**Side-note: I absolutely hated the way George Lucas did the Anakin/Padmé romance (barf) so I'm changing it. In the movies Anakin's creepy and obsessive, spouting the worst lines I've ever heard; telling a girl you've dreamed about her for ten years (A) is creepy AF and (B) shows Anakin never really cared about being a Jedi. You can let me know whether non-creepy, actually-tries (instead of just telling Obi-Wan he tries and literally doesn't) Anakin is preferable to canon!Anakin.**

**To the reviewer who mentioned Dooku, sorry. He's one of my favorite characters too who deserves a better treatment than the knock-off, less fun Palpatine Lite****™ character he's usually treated as. Unfortunately this isn't that story and much as I'd like to I just can't fit him in.**

* * *

**Chapter III: **_Skywalker_

•

The water of the refresher was cool and, predictably, refreshing as Obi-Wan splashed it against his face, calming the flush that had risen sometime during the last few hours he had spent passionately arguing in front of one of the Senate's many committees. This particular one was convened to decide the merits of the Republic finally remilitarizing after several centuries, and Obi-Wan was a part of the faction arguing against it.

Not that he really believed it, of course. Having a military was a basic requirement in the universe, and the fact that the Republic had managed to somehow do without one — the judicial forces didn't really count — for a few centuries was some sort of minor miracle. Whatever had allowed it to work, it wasn't working anymore, as the Secessionist Crisis was showing. Many systems were leaving the Republic at an alarming rate, and it was clear to anyone with the slightest knowledge of the Republic that it wouldn't survive without them. Of course, the Separatists wouldn't come back into the fold without being forced, hence the inevitable war. And if it didn't spark on that it would spark on one of a thousand other points of tension.

Not that that was really important at the moment. At the moment Obi-Wan needed to be seen as a Senator passionate for peace at any cost, even to the point of stupidity, until, when the time came, reality would show him the error of his ways. Given that he already knew them to be errors, this correction would be rather softer on him than those who genuinely believed in non-militarization.

Obi-Wan stepped out of the refresher having straightened and groomed himself, feeling much better, and immediately ran into one of the genuine friends he had made in the Senate.

"Senator Amidala," he greeted her with a smile and a bow, which she quickly and happily returned. Before becoming the Senator for Bandomeer, Obi-Wan had only known Padmé Amidala as the Nubian Queen who had been involved with the Federation's invasion of her planet and Master Qui-Gon Jinn's heroics. After meeting her repeatedly, however, he had grown to find she was a strong, convicted Senator with a great deal of passion for justice. In that she and Obi-Wan aligned very well, for she too despised the corruption of the Senate and, Obi-Wan was sure, could be persuaded to see that the Republic's system was flawed. The only thing he truly disliked about her was that her commitment to pacifism was genuine, but that too could come to be shown an error to her.

"Obi-Wan, you're always so formal," Padmé chided him, smiling.

"We all have our character flaws," Obi-Wan allowed. Then he noticed the young man standing awkwardly behind Padmé, a respectful distance away. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry," he said, "I didn't see you there. Are you with Padmé?"

The boy flushed as only teenagers could and Padmé rolled her eyes. "The Chancellor insisted I have Jedi bodyguards after the assassination attempts. This is Anakin Skywalker, and I'm afraid he still has a crush on me from when we first met."

"Padmé!" the teenager cried, aghast. "You can't just _tell _people that!"

"Obi-Wan is a friend, Anakin, and I'm sure he noticed anyway. He used to be a Jedi too."

"Pleased to meet you," Obi-Wan said, holding out a hand to a suddenly wide-eyed Skywalker.

He started after a moment. "Oh, yeah! Pleased to meet you too," he said, shaking Obi-Wan's hand just a little too enthusiastically, ears turning red. "So you were a Jedi?"

Obi-Wan mock glared at Padmé. "Padmé exaggerates. I was brought up by the Order but I was never selected for training by a master."

Skywalker's eyes, if anything, got wider. "You can be not selected?"

Obi-Wan made a show of shifting uncomfortably. "Yes, not all Initiates are chosen. We who aren't are sent off to the Service Corps. I was sent to Bandomeer to be a farmer and… well… here I am." Skywalker's shock was turning to sympathy, and Obi-Wan was sure to head him off. "Skywalker… I know your name…" He thought for a moment, though in truth he had remembered immediately. No apprentice of Qui-Gon Jinn would ever be forgotten to him. "Not the apprentice of Qui-Gon Jinn?"

Skywalker seemed startled by the change in topic. "Uh… yes. Yeah, Qui-Gon's my master. We were both assigned to protect her. Qui-Gon knew Padmé a long time ago." Then he stopped. "Why, do you know Qui-Gon?"

Obi-Wan chuckled falsely. "Ah, yes," he said, looking slightly awkward. "He refused to train me three times. Was my last hope of becoming a Jedi, actually…" He trailed off when he looked to see both Skywalker and Padmé staring at him sympathetically again. "Well, look, enough of this sort of talk. I've been arguing with politicians all day and I'm quite ready for my dinner. I know some excellent Bandomeeran restaurants. I know it's not the most famous cuisine, but we _weren't _an agricultural world for no reason. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Come, my treat."

•

"So why did Qui-Gon refuse to train you?" Anakin — it was 'Anakin' instead of 'Skywalker' now — asked some days later across the table from Obi-Wan at the small, nondescript diner they were eating lunch in. Somehow, someway, he and Anakin had taken a mutual interest in each other, hence the lunch. Obi-Wan took the moment he needed to chew his mouthful of food to ponder the young Jedi's question. He didn't really need to act, either, as in truth it was a question he still hadn't found an answer to himself. He took a sip of his wine before answering.

"In truth, I can only speculate, Anakin," he told the younger man. "You'd have to ask your master to get the best answer. I can only assume that he thought I was wrong for the Jedi."

"Wrong?" Anakin asked, brow furrowing. "But you were raised by the Jedi."

Obi-Wan inclined his head. "Yes, but masters are very sensitive about these things, you see. It doesn't really matter how skilled or powerful you are, or even how dedicated you are to the Jedi Order. It's the attitude they look for and if they think you're just a little too aggressive or too eager or too entitled that's all it really takes for you to be disqualified." He took another sip of his wine before noticing that Anakin had turned white. "Oh, Anakin, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you anxious. This is for Initiates, you understand. There's more leeway for Padawans, so I didn't mean to make you think you'd be thrown out of the Order."

Anakin visibly attempted to swallow before he nodded jerkily and cleared his throat. "No, um, it's fine," he mumbled. "I just didn't know the Jedi could be like that."

Obi-Wan regarded him curiously. "No? You've spent ten years in the Order and you must have had some hint of it."

"No!" Anakin exclaimed loudly, making other diners look over at them, and Anakin flushed. "No, I mean, maybe a little, but they're just watching out for me."

"Oh, no, Anakin, I didn't mean to imply they don't have their reasons," Obi-Wan said quickly. "The Jedi have to constantly be on guard for the dark side and so I don't really blame them. It's just…" he paused to take a particularly long swing of his wine, "I can't help but feel it was a little unfair. I know that's not really charitable of me, but–––"

"No, no, I understand," Anakin interrupted. "It _is _unfair. I think you would have made a great Jedi. I just don't know why my master couldn't see that. You're practically more of a Jedi than me. I don't know if I could be half as calm as you when dealing with the people you do."

"Except Padmé," Obi-Wan added with a smile and Anakin grinned back.

"Except Padmé," he acknowledged.

There was a lull in the conversation as Obi-Wan finished his wine.

"So, you have a crush on Senator Amidala, do you?" Obi-Wan asked with a smirk and Anakin groaned.

"Don't say it like that. I had a crush on her when I met her — I was nine! — and then I got tongue-tied when I saw her again when we began this mission and now she won't let it go."

"Looks a little more than that to me," Obi-Wan commented with a grin and held up his hands when Anakin glared darkly at him. He switched tracks. "The Jedi haven't changed their stance on attachments, have they?" Anakin should his head.

"No. This… thing… with Padmé is an emotional trial I have to overcome. My master's been helping me through it, but it's… not easy."

"No, I can't imagine it would be," Obi-Wan said in a voice that made Anakin spin to face him. Seeing the younger man's look, Obi-Wan explained himself. "Well, I have three wives myself and I love each of them dearly. I can't imagine trying to let them go. Even before we were married each of them was so captivating that I'm not sure I could have let them go even then."

"Wow," Anakin said. "Three wives?"

"Yes, the logistics are a little tricky," Obi-Wan said with a grin. "Only one of them is on Coruscant with any regularity, but visits home come frequently enough. Not as much as I like, yes, but… enough." Seeing Anakin's shocked expression, Obi-Wan laughed. "So you see, Anakin, that ending up on Bandomeer wasn't the worst thing in the universe for me, so you and Padmé can stop giving me those pitying looks."

"Alright, alright," Anakin said, shock finally giving way to a grin. "It's just… three wives… wow."

"Don't get your mind too far in the gutter," Obi-Wan told him. "I'm not sure it's conducive to this 'emotional trial' business." Anakin flushed again and Obi-Wan took the opportunity to check the time. "Speaking of, I'm certain your master will want you back guarding Padmé soon."

"Oh, yeah!" Anakin exclaimed. "Well, thanks, Obi-Wan!"

•

The Clone Wars had broken out, and so many things had happened at once that it was some time before Obi-Wan got a peculiar message from Anakin. Other than the chaos surrounding the fact that a Jedi investigator had discovered the young Confederacy of Independent Systems assembling vast armies and the Senatorial response to finally authorize the creation of a military (to Obi-Wan's public objection), there was also the fact that Chancellor Palpatine had been voted emergency powers, becoming the Supreme Chancellor in the process. That itself was only because a Jedi, whom Obi-Wan now knew to be Qui-Gon Jinn, had discovered the existence of a clone army ordered for the Republic by a rogue Jedi more than a decade before. Then he'd gotten himself captured, by his former master no less, and the Jedi had leapt with their new army to go free him. Of course, either blowing up numerous factories or executing a Jedi constituted acts of war, and so now the Republic was at war with the CIS.

To top it all off, Bo-Katan had informed Obi-Wan that she was pregnant.

It was several days before he had much free time and when he did it was to discover the news that Padmé was finally returning to Coruscant. She had left for Naboo about a week before the Geonosis business after yet another assassination attempt at the Chancellor's insistence, accompanied by Anakin Skywalker. After Geonosis she had returned to Naboo but Obi-Wan had had little doubt she couldn't stand it; with the eruption of the war she had found her excuse to come back to the heart of the Republic. If Padmé wasn't Padmé Obi-Wan might almost say it was because Naboo was in dangerously easy reach of the Separatists, but he knew his friend better than that. Apparently not well enough, however, for Obi-Wan only knew of her return because Anakin, her Jedi protector, had called him desperate to talk when he reached Coruscant. Finally, the frazzled Jedi apprentice appeared in Obi-Wan's apartment.

"I killed them, Obi-Wan!" the younger man exclaimed as soon as the door had shut, Obi-Wan not even having a chance to greet him as Anakin barreled through. "I killed them all." He turned away in shame. "Not just the men… their women and children… they're all dead. I killed them…"

Obi-Wan looked at him wide-eyed. "Slow down, Anakin, you're not making any sense. You killed who? The Geonosians?"

"No," Anakin croaked, succumbing to Obi-Wan's push that landed him on the Senator's couch. "Not the Geonosians… Before…"

Obi-Wan finally made up his mind and went to his cabinets before returning with a bottle of Corellian ale, which he poured into two glasses. One of them he handed to Anakin, who sipped at it then choked. "I'm sorry," Obi-Wan immediately said. "I didn't realize it was stronger than you're used to."

"No! No, it's… it's good," Anakin mumbled. "It's what I need."

There was silence for some time as Anakin nursed his ale and Darth Consilus turned his mind over what to do about Anakin Skywalker. Initially he had been prepared to dislike the young man. Where Qui-Gon had rejected Obi-Wan he had fought for Anakin, and from all observances, including Anakin's own, Obi-Wan was a better Jedi than the young man. What he hadn't expected was to start getting along with him. In truth, he saw much of himself in Anakin. When he had still been a Jedi, he had had a love for piloting and a modest talent for mechanics, traits Anakin possessed in abundance, and so too did the young man share even Obi-Wan's prodigious lightsaber talents. And where Obi-Wan had realized what he missed later in life, Anakin had known since joining the Order. In truth, Obi-Wan found he liked the boy — and with his power he would make a formidable Sith.

"My mother is dead," Anakin said finally, hollowly, as though he was trying to distance himself from the truth of it.

"Oh, Anakin, I'm so sorry," Obi-Wan said, and Anakin just nodded silently.

"She…" he choked back a sob, "she was taken by Tusken Raiders." Seeing Obi-Wan's look of confusion, he elaborated. "They're desert nomads back on… Tatooine. They hate humans. So they… they took her and… they tortured her… _because it was fun!" _he exclaimed with sudden anger, face contorting in rage. "I had _dreams_ about her, Obi-Wan, but I wasn't allowed to do anything!" He looked at Obi-Wan desperately, then looked away. "I went to… to rescue her, but she didn't make it. I was just so… so angry. They were _animals," _he snarled, and Obi-Wan saw the young man's fists were shaking. "What they did to her… what I saw… they were animals, Obi-Wan. So I slaughtered them like animals. Every one I could find." He sobbed. "And it felt _good, _Obi-Wan. What kind of Jedi am I?"

There was silence for a time as Obi-Wan mulled over his thoughts. What Anakin had described was a classic turn to the dark side, but Anakin wasn't ready for it, and neither was Obi-Wan. Siri was close to completing her training… but not yet. More importantly, Anakin was still loyal to the Jedi. The Jedi had betrayed Siri, left her to torture and death, but to Anakin they, most prominently his master Qui-Gon, had saved him from a life of slavery and put him on a path to greatness. Anakin was still poisoned against the Sith… but in time…

Obi-Wan put that aside, focusing instead on the fact his young friend was in pain.

"I never knew my mother," Obi-Wan said slowly. "The Order took me when I was young…"

"You never searched for her after you left the Order?" Anakin asked.

Obi-Wan shook his head. "No. I was a pauper for some time and then there just never seemed to be any time. I don't even know where I'd look. I only know my homeworld, but I've never been back. I guess I'm just too afraid to come back into their lives. I don't even know if…" he trailed off. "What I'm trying to say, Anakin, is that you have experiences few to no Jedi can relate to. And I might not be able to talk about my mother, but I can tell you that if anyone came for my wives or my… my children I can't say I wouldn't do the same thing."

"Children?" Anakin asked after a moment.

"Well, not yet," Obi-Wan murmured, smiling softly. "But… soon. My wife is pregnant."

"Oh, uh, congratulations," Anakin said awkwardly.

"Thank you," Obi-Wan replied quietly. "But Anakin, I'm no Jedi. I can't tell you what to do… I can just tell you you're not broken or unnatural for doing what you did."

"Anyone on Tatooine would have done the same thing," Anakin mumbled. "My step-dad tried."

Obi-Wan sighed. "I wish I could advise you better. You know the Jedi look down on these things, but I don't think you could leave the Order."

"No!" Anakin cried. "I've done so much. Qui-Gon… What would Qui-Gon think?"

"I'm not saying you should," Obi-Wan assured him. "But I don't really know what to do. About the best I can do is lend a sympathetic ear."

Anakin smiled weakly at him. "Maybe that's what I need."

•

Darth Consilus and Darth Rheva sat on the perch of a tall building overlooking the vast area that had been recently claimed for the Grand Army of the Republic. It was a magnificent sight: thousands upon thousands of white-armored troops, all genetically identical to a fearsome Mandalorian template, marching in formation to board their massive assault ships, dozens of them, all primed to take them to the battles now erupting across the galaxy.

And, as Obi-Wan had predicted, the leaders of the new army were the Jedi. It was exactly what he would have done and so exactly what Sidious had done. The war would spread the Jedi thin, grind them down, tempt them with the dark side, and any number of other things, the most important of which, Consilus was sure, was keeping them away from the heart of the Republic and, thus, Sidious himself. Over the years Obi-Wan had gotten closer to identifying the mysterious Sith Lord, and as events fell into place the list of suspects got ever shorter. Of one thing he was more certain than ever, however: Sidious was powerful in the Republic, high up in its ruling bodies.

Of course, the Jedi had accepted leadership the army like the fools they were. They didn't see what it would do to them and the Jedi Order. They evidently naïvely hoped that by leading the Republic's war effort they would somehow be able to dictate the war. What hubris that was. No one could control war. Even Sidious, the man who had orchestrated it, would have his hands full merely getting what he wanted from it. To control it was a mad dream.

"So ends the Republic," Rheva murmured beside him.

* * *

**Last edited: 2019/4**


	4. The Clone Wars

**A/N — It seems like most of this fic is talking, but ah well. Anyway, Ahsoka's here! And Obi-Wan's starting to cotton-on to Palpatine. And Anakin and Padmé are married! Let me know what you guys think of that, by the way, instead of the romance ("romance"?) portrayed by George Lucas.**

**Side-note: it always seemed weird to me the way TCW portrayed Ahsoka becoming a Jedi Padawan especially given that, as far as I'm aware, most of Legends, such as the Jedi Apprentice series, was still canon at the time. She's fourteen and assigned to Anakin which is quite a bit bizarre. I rather like this version better (yes, I'm biased) as it allows Anakin some development of his own and makes more sense, IMO, given how we previously understood the Jedi to work; not to mention it gives Ahsoka more character too as well as some relatable parallels with her canonical grandmaster.**

**Next chapter we actually get some action (so far the most action in the fic) and Obi-Wan gets to finally stretch his legs instead of sitting around on Coruscant all day.**

* * *

**Chapter IV: **_The Clone Wars_

•

"A Knight?" Obi-Wan asked with a wide smile. "Congratulations, Anakin. This seems quite unprecedented."

A blushing Anakin ducked his head. "Not unprecedented. Jedi younger than me have been knighted in wartime before. But… I am the youngest knight in centuries."

"Well, congratulations all the same," Obi-Wan said. "I heard you got it after fighting some mysterious dark assassin."

Anakin snapped to look at him. "Where did you hear that?"

Obi-Wan smiled secretively. "Oh, us Senators have people we like to talk to from time to time."

Anakin frowned for a moment and then his face brightened. "You talked to Qui-Gon," he stated and this time it was Obi-Wan's turn to stare. Anakin folded his arms. "Don't look at me like that. It's not the hardest conclusion."

Obi-Wan turned around to finish pouring out the Alderaani cognac so Anakin wouldn't see him roll his eyes. "Indeed," he replied. Then he turned around and handed a glass of the cognac to his younger friend. "Cheers," he said, and the two clinked glasses, each subsequently taking a long pull. "Yes," Obi-Wan said after a moment. "Your… well, former master has regrets about refusing me as an apprentice. He likes to check up on me from time to time now that he knows I live on Coruscant."

Anakin looked awkward. "Well… that's, uh, good, right?"

Obi-Wan shrugged, staring into his glass as the cognac swirled around. "Maybe, maybe not. He says I would have been a great Jedi and that it's his burden not seeing that at the time. He said he was blinded by not being ready for another apprentice. He even apologized for turning me away." There was silence. "I just wonder if he ever would have bothered if I'd stayed a farmer on Bandomeer." There was silence again and Obi-Wan looked up to see Anakin staring pensively at him. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be melancholy. Master Jinn seemed immensely proud of you for following in his footsteps in defeating a Sith assassin. Being but a boring Senator, I have to insist you regale me with this exciting tale of heroism."

Anakin's mouth twitched at Obi-Wan's joke, but Obi-Wan could see he was still deep in thought about his master. Nevertheless, he began to speak about his baited encounter with the Sith assassin Asajj Ventress, and as he spoke the worry and darkness seemed to fall away from him. In truth, Obi-Wan was quite impressed to hear this battle of Anakin's, for he had heard much of Asajj Ventress and all of it painted the picture of an extremely deadly Sith acolyte. He doubted she was more than that, but that sort of skill to defeat her from one as young as Anakin was quite impressive. What was more impressive was how Anakin no doubt was minimizing his own actions; for one not naturally humble it pleased Obi-Wan that his young friend didn't boast in his presence.

"I don't suppose this lesson against recklessness has made an impact this time?" Obi-Wan asked with a teasing smile when Anakin trailed off at the end of his story.

Anakin flushed again. "I hope so. My battle cost some of Qui-Gon's best men. I think it was only him and the Chancellor who got the Council to knight me instead of punish me."

"The Chancellor?" Obi-Wan asked with sudden interest.

"Yeah, he's been a great help ever since I became a Jedi. We were friends right from the beginning and he's been pushing for my knighthood a lot. He says I'm too valuable to the war to be trailing Qui-Gon all the time."

"That is quite true," Obi-Wan replied, but his mind was distant. What Anakin said made sense… except it didn't. The ruler of the Republic going out of his way to maintain a friendship with a young ex-slave? Something just didn't seem right about that. Was it possible that Sidious had the Chancellor himself under his influence? Was it something else? Or was Obi-Wan looking too deeply into it? Perhaps Palpatine really had just encountered a slave boy and decided to mentor him. The parallels between another encounter of a powerful man and a pauper boy wouldn't leave Obi-Wan in peace, however, not when _that_ particular encounter had had much more going on.

"I hear they're even going to put me in charge of my own army," Anakin said, breaking Consilus from his train of thought. "One of the new ones coming out of Kamino. _And _I'll be getting a few of those brand new Venators under my command. I've wanted to see some of those ever since I saw the Victories fight."

Obi-Wan smiled. Being part of more than a few of the Senate committees and boards tasked with acquiring new hardware for the Grand Army of the Republic, and with a modest amount of engineering expertise himself, he was well versed enough to have quite the discussion on warships. Such a discussion they did have, lasting well into the night until Anakin was forced to return, drunkenly, to the Jedi Temple.

Consilus, for his part, spent the remainder of the night brooding.

•

When Anakin barged into Obi-Wan's apartment door and slammed it shut behind him, Obi-Wan himself, sitting in a large armchair as he read over some reports, didn't even look up, having some time ago accepted that such occurrences were the price of a friendship with Anakin Skywalker. Still without looking up, he took a sip of his liquor — from Naboo, interestingly enough — and gestured for Anakin to have a seat. "Grab yourself a glass and I'll pour you some," he offered. He _did_ look up when Anakin drained his glass in one go and started breathing heavily. "Anakin, that was expensive! I give you these things to savor, not get drunk!"

"Padmé loves me," Anakin choked, looking pathetic enough that Obi-Wan sighed and poured him another glass of his Nubian liquor. Anakin drained that glass too, though to Obi-Wan's satisfaction much more slowly than he had done the first glass. Obi-Wan's silence prompted the young Jedi to continue. "She told me so. We were in a meeting and she asked me to help her back to her apartments and then she just sort of sprung it on me and I couldn't react and then she just kissed me!"

"And what did you do?" Obi-Wan asked curiously, and his curiosity piqued when he focused and felt shame radiating off his young friend, amidst a host of other, much more complicated emotions.

"I kissed her back," Anakin moaned, putting his face in his hands. "It's a kiss, it's nothing, but…"

"But it's not nothing, is it?" Obi-Wan said knowingly. Anakin looked up at him in shock and Obi-Wan chuckled. "I've loved three women, Anakin. I know what it's like."

"But I don't want to marry her!" Anakin exclaimed, standing up off the couch angrily. "I… I just kissed her! And… And…" he trailed off, falling back to the couch with his face in his hands. "Oh, Force, I want to marry her." He looked desperately at Obi-Wan. "I'm not over her, Obi-Wan. I thought I was… _Qui-Gon _thought I was! The _Jedi Council _thought I was! They wouldn't have knighted me if they thought I was in love with her!"

"In my experience," Obi-Wan commented mildly, "love has a way of doing that. I know you might not want to hear this, Anakin, but I've spent around two decades outside the Jedi Order and it's taught me many things. One of those is that we're meant to love. We're wired to do it. That's maybe what humans are best at doing, even when it badly interferes with what we want, as you're now discovering." He looked at Anakin, still crumpled miserably on the couch. "Anakin, I've never doubted your commitment to being a Jedi, but at the same time I've always known you were not the same as other Jedi. You've known love before as most of them have not and that will not make it a trial as easily overcome as you thought."

"So what are you saying?" Anakin asked.

"I don't know, Anakin. I can't tell you what to do nor what to want," Obi-Wan said sincerely, staring into the other man's wide blue eyes. "I can tell you that whatever you choose will be difficult. You're committed to being a Jedi and I don't want to sway you against that commitment, but I cannot honestly tell you that I believe in the Jedi rules against personal love anymore. You must make up your own mind on what takes precedence."

•

As one of the most important Senators in the Republic and an influential part of the war in his many roles dealing with the Grand Army of the Republic, Obi-Wan was frequently in contact with the Jedi professionally — war conferences, policy discussions, battle planning, strategy meetings, even the occasional battle when Obi-Wan acted the part of a diplomat, and many other things besides — and personally. It wasn't, therefore, surprising that he had close personal contact with many of the top Jedi of the Order. Besides the obvious Master Qui-Gon Jinn, who seemed continually intent on trying to somehow make up his failure to Obi-Wan, there were many others. Master Yoda had always taken a special interest in Obi-Wan, had been disappointed he had never been trained and disappointed he had left the Order, but he had eventually come around to Obi-Wan's career as a Senator, though he too had regrets. Master Windu too he knew quite well, as he did most of the rest of the Jedi High Council. Of course, the Jedi he most liked to run into was Anakin Skywalker.

"Anakin," he greeted with a wide smile, seeing the tall young man entering the meeting chamber. Then he spied the young female Togruta trailing behind the man: more importantly, he spied the padawan braid hanging behind her head. "And who might this be?"

Anakin grinned widely. "Obi-Wan, this is Ahsoka Tano, my new padawan. Ahsoka, this is Obi-Wan Kenobi, high and mighty Senator, ex-Jedi, and one of the best friends I've ever made."

"Ex-Jedi?" the newly-named Padawan Tano asked skeptically. "Like Count Dooku?"

"Ahsoka!" Anakin reprimanded, face twisting in an interesting expression.

"No, it's alright," Obi-Wan said. "Just make sure you aren't like that to other Senators," he said in a conspiratorial tone. "No, not like Dooku. I was never selected for training. I was only ever a Jedi Initiate before I left the AgriCorps."

Tano blanched as much as it was possible for a Togruta to do so, becoming more a pink than her usual reddish-hued skin. Before they had a chance to talk further, however, the meeting was convened and both Obi-Wan and Anakin became focused on the war. Obi-Wan caught Padawan Tano sneaking guilty glances at him throughout the meeting, but despite that she didn't look terribly upset when Anakin told her to return to the Temple while he talked with Obi-Wan.

"So, a padawan," Obi-Wan said when they were finally alone, this time in Padmé's apartments where Anakin had started to spend much more time as of late. Not that many knew; Obi-Wan only did because he screened Padmé's apartments for bugs to defend her from Sidious, the same reason he felt comfortable talking freely in them with Anakin.

Anakin rubbed the back of his neck in the nervous way Obi-Wan was sure he would never do in public. "I know," he started. "I've only been a knight for a few months and the Jedi Council sort of sprung it on me. They say we need more Jedi for the war. I'm not sure I agree with it. The Jedi we're sending out… we call them Knights but they're just not prepared enough."

"The same could be said about you," Obi-Wan pointed out.

Anakin didn't even look angry, instead moving to the couch and sitting tensely. "Yeah, maybe, but I have the skills. These Jedi… they don't. They're being put against threats they can't handle and they're dying for it. The Council doesn't even seem to care! How are they supposed to fight murderers like Grievous or Ventress? Not to mention most of them have no idea how to fight a battle." He looked at Obi-Wan, whose brows were drawn pensively in thought. "I'm sorry," he muttered. "I keep bringing this up with the Council but they don't change their minds. They don't seem to realize that this war doesn't need Jedi in the front of it, that we don't have to be sacrificing Jedi and that non-Jedi can lead as well."

"And Ahsoka Tano?" the older man asked.

"I didn't want to," Anakin muttered, then looked up at his friend. "Don't… don't tell her I told you this, but if I didn't take her she was going to remain in the Service Corps. She's fourteen, she's aged out when no one took her. I remembered you, I remembered how no master took you… I see so much of you in her, so much of me… I just couldn't say no, Obi-Wan. I was her last hope of being a Jedi. I just couldn't say no." There was a long pause as Anakin stewed and Obi-Wan mulled it all over. "That's not all," he whispered.

Obi-Wan leaned forward. "This has to do with Padmé, doesn't it?"

Anakin looked at him. "Yeah. How did you…?"

"I oversee a lot of her security," Obi-Wan replied and wasn't sure what to feel when Anakin didn't even look surprised. He leaned back. "Go on."

Anakin looked away. "We're married."

Obi-Wan leaned forward. "Married? Anakin–––"

"Yeah," Anakin cut in. "I know. It's so many things and stupid is probably top of the list… but Obi-Wan…"

"You love her?" Obi-Wan asked knowingly.

"Yeah," Anakin replied with a goofy smile. Obi-Wan's smirk wiped it off his face and he tried to school his expression to become serious. "I… you were right. About the Jedi, I mean. I can't live like that. I thought… I thought maybe I could, even after Mom, maybe especially after Mom… But I just can't. I can't just go through life never truly caring about anyone, always just letting them go. That… That's just wrong. I can't do it. And I don't want to. Padmé showed me I didn't want to."

Obi-Wan sat in thought for a moment. "What do you plan to do? A secret marriage won't last forever, especially if you ever intend to raise a family with Padmé." He pointedly ignored how Anakin's face became goofy at the mention of children. "This war is likely to get significantly worse before it gets better. With this marriage that may be more of a trial than you can face."

"I'll face it _because_ of Padmé," Anakin insisted fiercely. "I want a family with her and that's already given me more strength than I knew I had."

Obi-Wan held up his hands placatingly. "I just mean that you may not be able to keep this secret and fight a war at the same time, and it's not a long-term solution. The Jedi may be distracted now, but they won't be forever. What do you mean to do if they find out? Leave Padmé and renounce your attachment to her? It's the only thing the Jedi will permit you to do."

"Never!" Anakin snarled, standing up angrily. His furious countenance stared into his friend's calm one for a moment and slowly the anger faded. "No. I can't… I can't do… Not again. After Mom… I couldn't do it. I'll leave the Order after the war. I can't right now — they need me with the war… But after? I think I could."

"And what about Qui-Gon?" Obi-Wan asked. "And Padawan Tano, for that matter?"

Anakin's face drew into hard lines. "Qui-Gon would have to understand. I appreciate everything he did for me… but a nine year-old freed slave can't commit for the rest of his life. Ahsoka? I don't know. I hadn't thought that far ahead yet."

Obi-Wan hummed before switching the subject to something lighter that took him and his friend deep into the evening.

•

"What news from the front?" Consilus asked many, many months later, ensconced in the safe-room he had hidden away near his Senatorial apartments. In front of him, a life-size hologram of Darth Rheva bowed. Ever since the war had begun, Rheva had been itching to test herself, a feeling Consilus himself understood. Under Darth Renova's guidance he had quickly come to desire tests of his skills himself against various opponents, and working under various Mandalorian bounty hunter groups had provided him just that. Now Rheva was in a similar position, working as both a freelance intelligence operative for the Republic — who didn't, of course, know she was the supposedly deceased Siri Tachi — as well as Consilus' eyes and ears amongst the Separatists.

"Stalemated as expected, Master," Rheva told him. "The Separatists focus on holding worlds and taking them when the Republic isn't looking in order to secure their front and choke the Republic and the Republic focuses on intercepting and destroying Separatist fleets and convoys wherever they can." She paused. "Dooku seems intent on spreading the war to the Outer Rim. Secessionist uprisings are appearing on many planets and I've tracked Dooku's agents to too many to believe they're coincidences."

Consilus mulled this over. "The Separatists aren't as logistically burdened. Spreading out the front favors them, but this is almost certainly at Sidious' direction. The Jedi will be pushed even further away from him and spread thin. I suppose we no longer doubt where Dooku stands."

"Did we ever?" Rheva smirked at him.

Consilus chuckled without much humor. "I suppose not. Cutting off Skywalker's arm didn't exactly paint him as still a Jedi. Still, I find it perplexing that Dooku would have gone along with Sidious' plans, let alone to this extent."

"The Separatist war machine is kicking into full gear," Rheva continued. "They're building up their navy substantially to counter the new Republic warships being built."

"Sidious needs the war to continue, but I wouldn't be surprised if Dooku was trying to break away from his master. He must know he has no place in the Empire. What of the internal front?"

"The newly formed Loyalist Committee you're on seems to be exactly what you expected: a way for Sidious to keep an eye on some of the internal enemies he'll have to eliminate. I've discovered substantial evidence of spies tailing many Senators, yourself and Amidala included."

Consilus hummed. "And there's no chance these are just normal political games?" he asked. "I've been spied on before."

"They could be, Master," Rheva acknowledged.

"But you don't think so."

She shook her head. "No. I've found similar spies tailing potential rivals to eventual power in the Empire. Admirals, generals, intelligence officers, and a lot of others."

"I suppose this confirms the Supreme Chancellor is involved in some way. Pity. I rather hoped he was kept out of it, but I suppose Sidious would need to at least influence him at some point. If nothing else, he'll need to be deposed before the Empire, or maybe function as a puppet. Perhaps Sidious wants to have him assassinated and be named his successor. The assassination would give him a lot of leeway." They lapsed into silence.

"There is one other thing, Master," Rheva murmured. When Consilus inclined his head, the woman continued. "Dooku has begun looking for other dark-side Force-sensitives. It's rumored he had Asajj Ventress killed and is looking for replacements. Should I approach him?"

"No," Consilus replied immediately. "No doubt you would gain valuable insight on Dooku himself, but Dooku isn't the primary threat. Sidious is here, not out there, and you, my dear, are far too valuable to risk. Besides, it would compromise your reputation. Your loyalties will remain, as ever, with the Republic so that when the Empire forms no one will question your ascension, least of all the Jedi."

"As you wish, Master."

"And do try to make it home soon," Obi-Wan told her with a smirk. "I get lonely without my girls."

"Soon enough… _Master,_" Siri drawled. Obi-Wan rolled his eyes.

* * *

**Last edited: 2019/4**


	5. Apprentices

**A/N — So sorry I'm late with this! Life caught up with me and pushed the update back a few hours.**

**This is, at the moment, I think the peak of the fic because Obi-Wan gets to kick some ass and have a better time than he did in canon. Given other events, the timeline's a bit weird so if it satisfies you pretend that Maul invaded Mandalore earlier than he did in TCW.**

**Regarding the long review I got, on several points I agree. Changing between Sith and regular names was meant to be an arsty, fancy writing thing but I realize now it was pretty stupid and unnecessary (as most such things are). I can also sympathize with the view of things being too mundane but this was an exercise in trying to make a short(er) fic than I usually do and in imitation of _Revenge of a Sith_ which wrapped up the whole Prequels trilogy in eight chapters and about 14k words. Such a limit doesn't really lend itself to in-depth action and nitty-gritty events and I focused more on the character interactions, particularly Anakin and Obi-Wan, than specific events and actions. I like to think I've included more content than the inspiration but that is for you, dear reader, to judge.**

* * *

**Chapter V: **_Apprentices_

•

The Kryze villa on the outskirts of a mountain lake amidst the regrowing ecosystems of Concordia was even more beautiful than Obi-Wan remembered it. Perhaps, he reflected, that was merely because of the idyllic sight that greeted him as he walked out onto the balcony, that of his beautiful wife nursing their infant daughter. The only thing missing from the picture was their eldest, the little one's big brother, who was still on Mandalore with his aunt. As the Mandalorian Sun finally dipped to the horizon, its golden rays lit up the red hair of mother and daughter in a dazzling final gesture before disappearing for the night.

Bo-Katan Kenobi, formerly Kryze, wasn't like either Satine or Siri in many ways. All his wives were different, of course, but Obi-Wan felt that his relationship with his second wife was the most different of all of them. With Bo-Katan there was a constant, almost violent passion that simply wasn't present in Satine or Siri, at least not in the same way. Satine and Siri were as passionate as Obi-Wan could wish for, but theirs was a loyal passion. With Bo-Katan there was loyalty, yes, but there was always a contest, a demand and testing for violent strength as well. Satine had it to a lesser extent too, but Satine was, at heart, a pacifist. Bo-Katan was no such thing and it showed. She was the kind of woman that Obi-Wan knew would demand he avenge her death in a way that neither Satine nor Siri would, demand violence on her behalf and display an unrivaled, unrepentant mercilessness to her enemies that both Satine and Siri sought to reduce in themselves. Simply put, all his wives were hard women, but Bo-Katan was the only one of his wives to enjoy her hardness.

That, of course, made the scene of her gently nursing their infant daughter with the most content, serene, and soft expression Obi-Wan had ever seen on her face deeply amusing. It swelled his heart, filled him with emotions he couldn't name, to know that even a woman who despised softness as much as Bo-Katan could be touched and melted by a tiny infant. Not that he had much room to talk, for little Bo-Kasa Kenobi melted his heart, that of a mighty Dark Lord of the Sith, just as much.

For all that, however, Obi-Wan and Bo-Katan got along the best of all his wives. Obi-Wan supposed it was because they were cut from the same cloth. With Satine and Siri there had always been fighting and tension at first. He and Siri had been competitive as children, a friendly rivalry that often had passionate arguing. Satine had been similar: in fact, he and Satine had hated each other when first meeting, Satine being a committedly nonviolent pacifist while Obi-Wan was very much not so.

By contrast, however, he and Bo-Katan had gotten along famously since first meeting. Both were pragmatic, practical, dedicated, and utterly ruthless when they needed to be. They shared a passion for combat, a talent for war, and a similar view on exactly what the world required and exactly what sort of commitment and action was needed to achieve goals, though admittedly she did have more of a cruel streak. She was even, amusingly, the only one of Obi-Wan's wives to share his red hair.

Now, after all these years, he couldn't imagine why he had been reluctant to marry her, why he had never considered her in the first place. It had been Satine, her sister, who had pushed Obi-Wan into taking her as a second wife, a sort of Mandalorian tradition to marry sisters, and at the time Obi-Wan had found it bizarre, even off-putting. Satine had been the only woman he wanted, but he had realized how important it had been to her and hadn't regretted it since.

Bo-Katan looked up at him and smiled serenely. "Obi," she murmured the way she only ever did when she was at her most relaxed.

"Bo," Obi-Wan smiled, walking forwards until he could lean down and capture her lips in a kiss that had been too long in coming.

It wasn't until many, many passionate hours later that she told him about Death Watch… and Maul.

•

Mandalore had a turbulent history, of course. Rule by a race of notorious warriors, even known as Jedi slayers from time to time, didn't exactly lend itself to blissful, memoryless history. Its most recent history had seen it torn apart by not one but two civil wars, the first of which had put Satine's family on the throne and the second of which had killed her father and brother, all of which had instilled in her a hatred of violence and war.

It hadn't, therefore, helped that Mandalore's troubles were not finished with the civil wars and that Satine was far from representative of the Mandalorians with her pacifism. Such a radical shift as Satine's policies had brought resentment, and that resentment had crystallized, in its most radical form, into the Death Watch. A sort of successor organization to those who had waged civil war against the Kryze family and their allies, it was a terrorist network designed to bring about Satine's destruction.

That was something Darth Consilus took great exception to. His and his master's interference and association with Satine had lent her some practicality and, therefore, stability, but with the eruption of the Clone Wars and the meddling of the Separatists to gain a powerful ally Satine's position had again become fragile. Consilus had already secured his wife's rule as best he could while still executing the Sith plan on Coruscant, but unfortunately Death Watch had been exiled rather than stamped out. Even the newly-promoted Darth Rheva, no longer Consilus' apprentice, had been unable to totally destroy the factions scheming against her co-wife.

Now Consilus had a firmer grasp of things. Bo-Katan had evidently taken it upon herself to defend her sister and investigate threats to her family's rule of Mandalore. The two sisters had once been bitterly opposed, but ironically it was Consilus who had drawn them back together to a place of compromise. Satine had renounced her radical nonviolence but kept her pacifism while Bo-Katan had shed her reckless militarism. They had a shared desire for a strong, powerful Mandalore. Thanks to Bo-Katan, Death Watch was no longer a threat to that.

Until Maul.

Consilus didn't really know how the rival Sith had survived, only supposing that the dark side had somehow been enough to keep him alive even through the fatal injuries Qui-Gon Jinn had inflicted on him more than ten years before. Now the insane Nightbrother sought revenge against that particular Jedi, something Consilus could sympathize with to a degree, but had gone to unacceptable lengths to do it. In their exile, Death Watch had formed an alliance with Maul and Consilus had no doubt that their target was Mandalore. It was too tempting an opportunity for them.

Still, Consilus had some idea of where to find information on Maul and his new Nightbrother ally. As Consilus knew Dathomir, home of the Nightbrothers, to have been purged by vengeful Separatists, he had a hunch he knew what particular thread linked it all together. After all, there were not so many Nightsisters in the galaxy — few to none now — that it was easy to overlook one. Luckily for him, she happened to have finally found her way, after so much, to Coruscant.

"Asajj Ventress," Obi-Wan greeted, recognizing the infamous former Sith Acolyte even with the short, blonde hair she had grown. It certainly made her look more appealing than having none. The dim lights of the shady, lower levels bar on Coruscant — the kind frequented by bounty hunters, mercenaries, smugglers, and the like — did not do much to illuminate her, but Obi-Wan hardly needed that.

Ventress turned around to regard him with a sneer which quickly turned into a fearful, calculating gaze. "Senator Kenobi," she drawled, already reaching for her 'sabers as though anticipating a quick getaway, perhaps with a hostage.

"I see I have a reputation."

"Among those smart enough," Ventress replied, sizing him up warily. "Hardly the place for one so high and mighty, is it? I should be flattered you braved this commoners' air to visit me."

"Well, we can't all get our kicks bounty hunting, my dear," Obi-Wan replied mildly. "Or attempting to assassinate Dooku," he added with deceptive mildness. Ventress whipped around to glare at him sharply.

"Dangerous words for a pompous rich man in a den full of bounty hunters," Ventress snarled.

"Would you prefer to talk elsewhere, then? You should have nothing to fear from a pompous rich man."

"And _why_," Ventress hissed, "would I go anywhere with you? You think I'm stupid enough to walk into your trap? I should just knock you out and sell you to the Separatists right now."

Obi-Wan laughed. "You won't sell a thing to the Separatists."

Ventress lips twisted as fury built in her. "Try me," she bit out.

The fury evaporated in an instant when Obi-Wan's eyes flashed gold. "_I,_" he said, "have other plans." Ventress backed away from him, eyes wide with fear, and Obi-Wan casually walked forward until she was pressed between him and the bar-top. "Tell me what you have to do with this creature called Savage Opress."

•

The shuttle craft flew down to the landing pad at one of Sundari's spaceports with deceptive idleness, the retrothrusters firing in magnificent plumes as the shuttle slowed, shuddered, and finally set itself jerkily down. A moment passed and the hatch opened, the boarding ramp extending as a dark, hooded figure became silhouetted against the internal lights of the shuttle. Long, purposeful strides brought the figure down the ramp and the two Death Watch men guarding the platform raced to the intruder. The leader had barely gotten a word out before their blaster-rifles fell from suddenly nerveless fingers, invisible forces closing their windpipes. The figure never broke its stride as the men died, merely stepping onto a speeder platform and directing it to the Mandalorian Palace.

As he rode the speeder platform, Darth Consilus allowed his careful, controlled fury to feed him and allow him to fuel conduits to reserves of dark side power he usually left well alone. The scum Maul and his Death Watch had managed to seize the Mandalorian capital, and though Bo-Katan had managed to evacuate Satine the fact that the ex-Sith had _dared _evict Consilus' wife, dared to seize control of _his _Mandalore, made him something to be dealt with… personally.

More guards were in his way, but they died as quickly as the others and fell to the ground before they even saw the dark, approaching figure. When he finally got to the familiar doors of Satine's throne room, he felt four presences, two of which he knew to be the final guards. Without even lifting a finger, the guards inside the room were executed and Consilus opened the doors with a wave of his hand, striding through without a glance at the dead men either side of the opening.

Maul wasn't much to look at. Far from his prime when Jinn had beaten him on Naboo, the years evidently hadn't been kind to him. Even still, the dark side was strong in him and Consilus knew better than to be rash. The ex-Sith stood from Satine's throne where he'd been lounging and approached Consilus cautiously, what could only be Savage Opress pacing slowly, menacingly behind him.

"It seems," Maul said after a moment silently observing the cloaked man before him, "that Dooku trains entirely too many pretenders."

Consilus let out a loud, genuine laugh at that. "_You _are the pretender, _boy. _You were never anything more than a failed apprentice and now you deem yourself a Sith Master."

"We _are _Sith. What are you but some arrogant fallen Jedi?"

With a war cry, Maul ignited his lightsaber and lunged at Consilus while his accomplice, Opress, simultaneously attacked from his other side. Consilus was not, however, a master of Soresu for nothing, and with ease he evaded their attacks. Where the pretender Sith tried to maximize their numbers advantage by occupying his blade with one while the other attacked, Consilus simply avoided all of it, breaking, parrying, dodging, and evading. The ease with which he avoided their attacks seemed to infuriate the Nightbrothers, but while they hoped to use that fury to draw more from the dark side, Consilus merely fed off it to strengthen himself so that all the Nightbrothers gained was rashness.

As Consilus' opponents spent themselves to exhaustion breaking themselves upon the Sith Master's perfect defense, they finally began to show weaknesses. Without warning, Consilus switched from his unbreakable defense to a ruthless offense, and it threw the Nightbrothers off balance. A single hesitation was all it took, and Opress went flying with a Force-enhanced kick from Consilus. One opponent temporarily out of the way, Consilus reflexively turned and greeted the charging Maul with a merciless Force push that sent the ex-Sith into a wall _hard, _knocking him unconscious. Then the Sith Master was free to focus upon Opress.

It was no contest. The creature was enormous, enhanced by some devilish Nightsister sorcery as Ventress had said, but was no true master of the Force and far from a master swordsman. Opress made up for this with sheer physical ability, but against a master of 'sabers like Consilus there was no true question of victory. Opress lasted nineteen seconds in a truly fair fight against the Sith Master before a blow too fast for Opress to see coming stunned the creature, allowing Consilus' blade to pierce through his chest. Not missing a beat, Consilus Force-pushed the creature away, sending Opress flying over the edge of the building to break upon the ground below.

Maul was up again, but Consilus was feeling vindictive and allowed the ex-Sith, with a cry, to leap past him and down to his dying comrade. Leisurely, Consilus walked to the ledge to look on silently as Opress died, the feeling of victory roaring inside him. When Opress finally shuddered and lay still, Consilus leapt down near the ex-Sith, observing him without comment.

"You should have taken the opportunity Jinn gave you," Consilus finally said to Maul. "Not many get to walk away from the Sith so cleanly. You should have thanked him for killing you."

The dark side swelled around Maul as the creature gave into his hatred. "That _Jedi_ stole from me! He stole my birthright! I was to rule the galaxy by my master's side!"

Consilus threw his head back as he laughed. "If you really believe that you are not what I took you for. While I doubt he meant you to die against Jinn, you delude yourself if you believe you were going to see the Empire."

Maul looked at him sharply, eyes glowing brightly with the dark side. "You know of the Sith plan."

"That," Consilus replied smugly, "is obvious. You know I am Sith while you are not."

"But you are not allied with my master."

"No. Sidious and I are at… cross-purposes, you might say. I don't suppose you'd be so kind as to divulge his true identity."

"_Never," _Maul hissed. "Now I will not just kill Jinn but you as well."

With that the battle was joined again, Maul leaping at Consilus with enraged, powerful swings that actually sent the Sith Master stumbling back at first. That lasted a fraction of a second, and though Maul's loss had allowed him even greater access to the dark side there was a reason Consilus was a Sith Master and Maul only ever an apprentice. They traded blows for a precious few seconds and then Consilus locked Maul's blade with his own. The ex-Sith's eyes widened as the Sith Master's other hand came up and then he collapsed screaming as Consilus pumped agonizing lightning into him, only just sparing him from instantaneous death. Maul didn't recover fast enough. With a gesture, Consilus threw him into the air and slammed him back into the floor, then threw him _hard _into the wall, and then with a flick of his wrist brought him flying to lie back crumpled at the Sith Master's feet.

"P-Please," Maul whispered, crawling brokenly to Consilus. "I will be your apprentice. Please." He bowed.

Consilus eyed him. "Tell me Sidious' identity."

"Never," Maul hissed again, and with a gesture he was wracked with lightning again, howling loudly with pain.

"Come now," Consilus whispered, "why do you protect the man who betrayed you? Who left you for dead?"

"He will take me back," Maul growled. "I have built all this to return to him! And then I will strike him down, as all Sith Apprentices do!"

"I have _destroyed _'all this,'" Consilus mocked. "Tell me the name!"

"No!"

Tormented howls rent the air as Consilus unleashed his dark side power on the ex-Sith, but it wasn't merely to punish Maul for his insolence in attacking Consilus' Mandalore but to weaken him. On and on it went until Maul was a gibbering, crumpled wreck begging at Consilus' feet. The Sith Master ignored it, instead taking Maul into the hands of the dark side and _opening _him. Maul's screaming began in earnest again but Consilus didn't hear it, tearing through the ex-Sith's mind until he found what he wanted.

"_Please," _Maul begged brokenly, voice hoarse and terrified. "_Mercy."_

"Mercy…" Consilus whispered, eyes glowing brightly in the shadows of his hood. "Very well." Maul gasped in shock as Consilus' red blade pierced through him, shuddering rigidly and turning yellow, fearful eyes on the Sith Master, who held him in his arms as the ex-Sith died. "As I said," Consilus told the dying man, "you should have taken the opportunity Jinn gave you." Maul's mouth moved but the man clearly couldn't decide what to say. Then he went limp and Consilus felt the Force leave the last Nightbrother. More gently than he deserved, the Sith Master placed Maul on the floor and stood, brushing himself off. "Trying to murder my wife has severe repercussions," he told the corpse. "And I'm afraid my recruitment quota has just been filled."

As he walked back to his starship, the battle between Bo-Katan's security forces and the late Pre Viszla's Death Watch raging fiercely in Mandalore's capital, he commed his two Mandalorian wives to let them know the leaders of the Shadow Collective were dead. Ridding the galaxy of that group of scum was now only a matter of time, now that they were deprived of leadership, and Mandalore would soon be back under the control of Satine and Bo-Katan Kenobi. The Sith's mind wasn't on that, however, or even on the battle he strolled through. There was one name circling it, unendingly:

Palpatine.

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**Last edited: 2019/4**


	6. Ventress

**A/N — Not much to say about this chapter. I'm not _quite_ so happy with it mainly because I think Obi-Wan's reveal to Anakin could have been done better but, as I mentioned before, this was never meant to be a particularly serious work and the format does put a lot of constraints on me. Difficult to slow the pace down just to write a really good build-up to Obi-Wan's reveal. Unfortunately we still have some stuff to cover before we really get to RotS and therefore the end of the fic but I hopefully should be able to squeeze that into one or two chapters. At this rate I think we're looking at ten total for the fic which is nice as a round number.**

* * *

**Chapter VI:** _Ventress_

•

"And the Jedi still have no idea who killed him?" Obi-Wan asked Anakin, sipping on a Corellian brandy during one of their many late night talks. The Jedi knight paced before him, clearly in a state of distress that Obi-Wan wished he could relieve but knew he couldn't. Anakin wasn't ready to join the Sith yet, but he was getting there. Anakin joining the Sith was now not an idle desire but a goal. Now that Obi-Wan knew Sidious _was _Palpatine things had fallen into place: Anakin was to be his new apprentice, evidently after Dooku was finished off near the end of the war. Consilus would not allow that to happen.

"No," Anakin growled. "They're just _dead. By lightsaber. _And no one knows anything about it! The Chancellor's worried we have rogue Jedi around and the Council's desperate to prove him wrong!"

_Yes, I'll bet he is, _Obi-Wan thought to himself. To Anakin, he said "Are you sure the Jedi Order didn't send someone after Maul after all?"

"Oh yeah," Anakin muttered darkly. "Qui-Gon told me that no one's stepped forward. No Jedi would do that. It has to be the Sith."

"Why would a Sith kill one of their own?"

"We think it's the Sith Master," Anakin said, head bent as he paced. "Cleaning up loose ends."

"Didn't Dooku tell Qui-Gon the Sith Master was in the Republic? In control of it, even?"

"Dooku's a liar, but even if he was telling a fraction of the truth" — _Oh, he very much is,_ Obi-Wan thought — "Mandalore's Republic territory. Even if it was in a small civil war."

"I really do wish I could help you, Anakin," Obi-Wan said, turning to look out over the cityscape that Anakin thought the carpet was preferable to.

"I know," Anakin replied, very carefully sitting down in a chair of Obi-Wan's as though he was ready to jump up in a second. "I just can't believe the Council let Republic systems undergo a civil war and come under the control of criminals. Under the control of an _ex-Sith. _I thought the Jedi were supposed to prevent that stuff from happening, but it seems like the Council only cares about the war these days."

"It can seem like that, yes," Obi-Wan told his friend. "I don't want to belittle your concerns — Force knows I've had to deal with scum like Maul's little band of criminals on Bandomeer, though fortunately not to the same extent — but the Council does have a point. This war needs to end as quickly as possible."

"They don't _want _it to end as quickly as possible!" Anakin shouted. "If they did they wouldn't be holding us back! The Council doesn't know the first thing about fighting a war! They want us to _capture _our enemies, for Force's sake! Do you know how many good men I've lost trying to _capture_ scum like Ventress or Grievous or Dooku?"

"Please, Anakin, you know I didn't mean it like that." Anakin did know that and calmed himself. "I don't pretend to understand the Council but they don't do things for no reason."

"I know," the Jedi muttered, "I know. I do. But they're wrong. They're wrong and they're not only losing this war but allowing criminals, _murderers, _to prey on the Republic. The Council makes _deals _with criminals to make the war easier. It's just wrong, Obi-Wan. It wasn't what I was taught to do and it's against what the Council itself preaches. I want to believe in them, I do, but they're being hypocrites." The Jedi sighed. "I'm sorry. It feels like every time I visit you I rant. Padmé does her best to listen but she was never a Jedi. She just doesn't understand and I don't want all our memories together to be talk about the war."

"Should I be flattered or insulted about what that says for our friendship?" Obi-Wan asked with a self-deprecating grin.

"Oh, flattered, definitely," Anakin said, finally grinning back and evidently decided to abruptly change topics. "Padmé told me you were sick pretty bad recently. You had to call off appearing in all your meetings. Are you feeling alright?"

"Oh, yes, Anakin, thank you. I was just taking some personal time back to Bandomeer." They sat in silence, and then Consilus decided to take a massive risk. "Anakin, I feel I should tell you now…" The Jedi looked up at him with a suddenly curious, worried gaze. "My wife… well, two of my wives… I'm married to Satine Kryze, the Grand Duchess of Mandalore." Anakin's mouth actually opened in shock. "And to her sister, too."

There were several seconds of shocked silence. "I… wow…" Anakin managed. "But… why are you telling me this now?" The gears were already turning in his brain, however. Obi-Wan knew Anakin was much, much smarter than most people gave him credit it for, and as he had hoped, expected, and feared, the Jedi's blue 'saber appeared and ignited in front of him. "You're the Sith Lord," Anakin breathed, his face a mixture of such anger, fury, hurt, betrayal, shock, disbelief, nausea, and so many other things that weren't reflected at all in his cold, dead tone. "You were the one who killed Maul."

Obi-Wan didn't move, despite Anakin's blade pointed at his chest. "I am a Sith, yes," he said calmly, not looking away as his friend's face contorted more with hurt and anger. "And I did kill Maul — and his brother." Anakin's shoulders were heaving as he breathed heavily. "But I'm not the Sith Lord Dooku told your master about. I'm not in control of the Republic and I'm not in league with Maul or Dooku or the Sidious he spoke of. Think, Anakin. How can I have been? Maul was older than me."

"But you killed them! You slaughtered both of them!" Anakin accused.

"Yes," Obi-Wan replied. "Yes. They tried to kill my wife, Anakin. My wives. They forced them into hiding and overthrew my wife's rule. Please, Anakin, if Maul had done the same to Padmé would you not kill him?"

Anakin shook. "But you didn't tell me! You lied to me! You pretended to be my friend–––!"

"I _am _your friend," Obi-Wan insisted. "I've always been your friend, Anakin."

"You're _not!" _the younger man cried. "You're a Sith!"

"Anakin, I've always been your friend," Obi-Wan repeated much quieter. "You know why I couldn't tell you. I wished I could, but this was what I knew would happen."

Anakin looked away, trying to deal with the hurt he so obviously felt. "Why now?"

"I couldn't hide it from you forever, Anakin," Obi-Wan told him truthfully enough.

"So you were afraid I'd discover you? Is that it?" Anakin demanded.

"You know that's not it. I could have run but I didn't. Because I trust you, Anakin."

"Don't!" Anakin cried. "Don't say that! Not after you've been lying to me this whole time! For years!"

"I'm sorry, Anakin. I really am. I wish things could have been different. But I do trust you. If you decide to tell the Jedi I won't run. I trust your judgement, Anakin."

Tears streaming from his eyes, Anakin glared furiously at his friend, opened his mouth several times to say something before changing his mind, and then stormed out of the apartment, slamming Obi-Wan's old-fashioned hinged door behind him. Obi-Wan, for his part, merely stared at where his friend had left, deep in thought. He hoped he hadn't made a grave mistake by trusting in Anakin's loyalty to people over abstract principles he didn't really believe in, especially when Obi-Wan hadn't done anything wrong the Jedi knew of. Even if Anakin did turn him in to the Jedi, Obi-Wan would keep his promise; it would unfortunately alert Sidious, but keeping his word would probably sway Anakin, especially once the Sith Lord he was actually looking for took action.

•

In the end, Anakin, after much confession (from Obi-Wan), shouting, and threatening (from Anakin), had agreed to keep Obi-Wan's secret. He didn't like it, but he had agreed to keep an open mind especially once Obi-Wan had reminded him of his misgivings about the Jedi and their way of life as well as the many flawed decisions they had made and desperate situations they had forced Anakin into. That was not before extracting a promise from Obi-Wan that he would, eventually, tell Anakin everything he knew about the war, the Sith, and the surrounding mysteries. Even still, it was an immense weight off Obi-Wan's chest and allowed him to start dealing with the complications of Sidious' true identity.

Part of that was traveling deep below the surface of Coruscant to what had once been an ancient temple of some sort and now served as a makeshift prison when Consilus needed one. The dark side was thick as he drew close, and the two presences inside sharpened at his approach. Consilus was reminded of a similar visit to a similar place more than ten years before, when he had made his first strides as Sith Master by finding an apprentice.

He quickly passed the security and entered the small room, greeted by the sight of Asajj Ventress, wrists and ankles bound in Force-suppressing cuffs, revolving slowly in the stasis field in the middle of the room. Behind her, Darth Rheva stood rigidly, eyes bright points of roaring gold in the dark shadows of her hood, the dark side rushing through the Sith Lady. Both the Sith in the room could feel and feed off the fear running hot through Ventress, but to the Nightsister's credit it was now tempered with an equal amount of resolve.

They stood in silence for some time, Ventress rotating and refusing to look at either Consilus or Rheva. Instead she stared fixedly ahead, and Consilus could sense her thoughts of preparing herself for death — or worse. What was most interesting was that Ventress actually felt as though she deserved it; she'd come far, Consilus supposed, from the angry, young, and foolish ex-Jedi Dooku had found on Rattatak. It was understandable given everything she'd been through; even if Consilus couldn't glean more from pushing on her mind, the Republic's intelligence on Ventress was quite extensive.

"Nothing to say?" Consilus asked when Ventress rotated to face him and he stopped her rotation.

"I have nothing to say to the likes of _you,_" Ventress hissed.

"Why?"

"I don't deal with Sith."

"Not even to save your own life?" Consilus asked, and the Nightsister sucked in a sharp breath.

"I won't submit to you," she growled after a pregnant pause, baring her teeth at him.

"That wasn't what I asked."

"The Sith betrayed me," she hissed. "My loyalty was repaid with _death,_ my homeworld destroyed, everything that mattered to me in this damned galaxy snuffed out. So you'll forgive me, 'Senator Kenobi,'" she sneered, looking at him disgustedly, "if the only thing you get from me is spit on those expensive boots of yours."

"That's quite the speech," Consilus commented, walking slowly around the Nightsister and observing her. "But I'll confess that I'm perplexed about its direction. After all, neither myself nor Rheva here have ever done a thing to you, Ventress."

"Sith are Sith," Ventress replied dismissively. Then her pale blue eyes narrowed. "Tell me what you want."

"Truthfully, you've put me in a rather awkward position, Ventress," Consilus confessed. "You see, it's rather inconvenient to have my little secret in the open."

"Then perhaps," the Nightsister drawled as though she were talking to a small child whom she didn't like very much, an affected tone to mask her terror, "you shouldn't have revealed it at the first opportunity."

"It was expedient," Consilus said with false dismissiveness. "Besides, the life of a bounty hunter doesn't suit you."

"That's a poor recruiting pitch for the famed Negotiator," Ventress replied. "I hope you had something better to get this one on board," she said, jerking her head towards the silently glowering Rheva.

"I don't think you _need_ a marvelous recruiting speech," Consilus told her. "Living in slums, scraping by whenever you aren't hunted by Republic authorities… it doesn't suit you. _And _you've already had a taste of the dark side."

"And I don't want anymore," Ventress said slowly, deliberately. "I've lived that life. I've had what it offers. I don't want anymore of it. You can be slaves to your rage, your hatred — let the dark side feast on you until there's nothing left! But I don't want that anymore! Nothing's ever enough! You get more and more and more but it's never enough and you're never happy. And then you're betrayed, or murdered, or executed as the scum of the galaxy. Even bounty hunting is more honorable than _that."_

The dark side flared in the chamber and Rheva stalked forward. "If that's what Dooku taught you about the dark side than he did you more of a disservice than you realize."

"And I suppose you'd know?"

"I would, actually," Rheva replied, golden eyes boring into Ventress' suddenly-unsure blue ones. "You speak a lot about the dark side when you don't understand it. You talk about rejecting it, but you still use it. I feel it in you now, Ventress. You talk about not being a slave to your hatred and rage but you still use them. You're no Jedi, but does that make you a hypocrite?"

"I rejected the way of the Sith," Ventress hissed. "It holds nothing for me. I'll find my own way in the Force, without the cursed Jedi or Sith."

"You're smarter than you seem, Ventress," Rheva told her, ignoring how the Nightsister snarled at the insult. "Dooku never taught you the Sith way because you were never meant to be a Sith."

"I was his most trusted!" the ex-assassin cried.

"If you think Dooku's master would have permitted him to train you as a Sith you are sorely mistaken," Consilus finally told her. "As your betrayal indicates. I don't know how Dooku saw you, but I do know he feared Sidious more than he cared for you."

"So you admit you're in league with the rest of your kind," Ventress sneered.

Consilus regarded her curiously. "You've heard of Sidious then."

"So what if I have?"

"I'm surprised he's allowed you to live out your pitiful existence on Coruscant given this little revelation. Franky I'm surprised you've been as unmolested as you have."

"Have you considered that perhaps I'm good at surviving?"

"Against Sidious? That, my dear, is extremely doubtful," Consilus told her and the Nightsister snarled at the implied insult before the Sith Lord raised a hand to caress her cheek, an action that made her freeze at the implied threat. "For someone who rejects anger," Consilus whispered, "you are awfully quick to show it to the world." He didn't expect an answer to that and Ventress didn't give him one, instead taking his hand away and returning to the slow walk he had been doing. "It wasn't an insult, my dear, merely the truth. Against Sidious you have no chance at victory, nor even survival." Then he clenched his fist. "Which means you were to serve in some scheme of his and your disappearance will be hard to make go unnoticed."

Ventress seemed to pale at the possibility that Obi-Wan really wasn't lying to her and that she was still a slave to the Sith. "Dooku always said his master was in control of the Republic," the Nightsister whispered in a voice far less hostile than it had been. "I never believed him. It was an absurd lie. Why would Dooku be at war with his master? What more could be gained from the war?"

Consilus regarded her curiously. "You lack vision, darling," he told her. "Simple questions with so many answers. Your loyalty is touching but obviously misplaced; is it so difficult to believe Dooku might seek to betray his master as he betrayed you?" Ventress quivered, the first visible sign of fear either of the Sith had seen from her. "But I don't think you really care about the war right now," Consilus murmured, standing directly behind Ventress. "You care about being a pawn of Sidious." The Nightsister sucked in a breath.

"Is it true?" she breathed.

"It's the only thing that makes sense," Consilus told her. "It is only the part you are to play in his schemes that's in question. Perhaps he planned to use you against Dooku or as a convenient scapegoat on Coruscant. Or perhaps it was one of a thousand other things. Sidious hasn't gotten to where he is by being inflexible and unable to adapt. I shudder to imagine all the different schemes and contingencies he has in mind for you, my dear. You live at his pleasure."

"You're just saying this to sway me to you," Ventress said desperately.

"You know that's not true."

"No," Ventress murmured, surprising Consilus with her quick surrender, her defeated melancholy, "I know."

"Ironically," Rheva said, twisting Ventress' face so they could stare at each other, wavering pale blue looking into fierce, brightly-glowing gold, "you're more a Sith now than you ever were as Dooku's apprentice. The Sith do not let the dark side feast upon them; we command it, not the other way around. You were Dooku's instrument; only true Sith are allowed to truly command the dark side, which is why you were taught to let it feast on you, to give you short term power and kill his enemies but never to achieve mastery for yourself."

"I leave you with the choice, Ventress," Consilus said. "Unfortunately for you, I can't risk my secret getting out, but your death will be merciful and painless. I'll even see to it you get a proper funeral and burial — on Dathomir or Rattatak or wherever you prefer. That, or you can become Rheva's apprentice. She's been needing one of her own. The choice will not always be available to you, however."

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**Last edited: 2019/5**


	7. Dealings in the Shadows

**A/N — I'm so sorry about the impromptu almost two-month hiatus. I can't say anything other than that life got the better of me and I've had basically no free time.**

**That and I wasn't at all sure how to do this chapter. I didn't want Obi-Wan to have it as easy as he had it in _RoaS _but I also couldn't have Palpatine find out Obi-Wan's real identity unless I wanted to take the story in a different direction than I'd intended when I started writing it.**

**As I consequence, this is the longest chapter (so far) and ends on something of a cliff-hanger.**

**Please tell me what you think! And any suggestions for Ventress' Sith name would be good because I couldn't think of anything.**

* * *

**Chapter VII:** _Dealings in the Shadows_

•

The layer of Coruscant deep, deep beneath the surface where Consilus kept his prison was entirely dark but luckily uninhabited, making it easier to distinguish the presence of a Force sensitive without sight. Consilus suspected he'd be able to pick out the man even from the densest crowds, however, with his power, most especially if he kept brooding and releasing vast torrents of emotion to the Force in powerful waves. How foolish the Jedi were for simply letting such power trickle away, he briefly thought.

"You really are a Sith," Anakin said by way of greeting.

"Well, I didn't invite you down here as a prank," Obi-Wan replied. "Would you have preferred it?"

"At this point I don't know!" Anakin shouted, face contorting in anger. "Dammit, Obi-Wan, you're not meant to be a Sith!"

Obi-Wan didn't let it phase him. Anakin had already said much worse to him and he was the sort of man who needed to vent his emotions before being able to fully manage them. "Apparently I wasn't meant to be a Jedi either, which is why all this happened." Then he turned to his friend. "But I didn't invite you here for this. Ventress is inside and you should know I've offered to induct her as a Sith. Now that you know my secret, however, and knowing your history together, I leave her fate up to you instead."

Anakin's face twisted. "I can't."

"You'd prefer me to make the decision?"

"Yes! No! I don't know!" Anakin cried. "Sith! Fuck! How am I supposed to know? She murdered people! And I'm a Jedi, no matter what the Council whispers behind my back, and I can't let more Sith in this galaxy."

"She killed in roughly the circumstances you did," Obi-Wan pointed out. "But would you prefer to kill her or should I?"

"Stop _doing_ that! Stop acting like this is all some big joke! You're a kriffing _Sith Lord! _You shouldn't be standing here calm as a Jedi Master! You're infuriating! You should be cackling evilly, or demanding her head, or goading me to kill her, or… or something!"

"Are you done?"

"I'll let you know," Anakin replied in a petulant tone that told Obi-Wan that he _was_ done.

"I don't mean to be light about it, Anakin, but this decision has to be made. Ventress _cannot_ be turned over to Republic authorities now that she knows my identity, and even if she was there's a high likelihood she'd face capital punishment anyway. If I do not induct her to the Sith here then the only alternative is to kill her, and no amount of discussion we can have will change that. I could butter you up with platitudes but I don't think that's quite what you're looking for."

"And why is it _my_ decision?"

"Would you accept mine? If I decided to let her live after everything she's done, would you accept it? Or would you stand by and watch me execute her and accept that?" Obi-Wan asked. Anakin's face twisted in pain.

"Fine. I get it. But what _would_ you do?"

"I think that's quite obvious. I would let Ventress live not merely because she bolsters my Order but because at this stage she is truly repentant. The Ventress you have fought and who has harmed you so many times has been punished many times over for what she has done, far worse than the Republic or Jedi could ever mete out."

"And what's a life serving the dark side?" Anakin snarled. "Death would be a mercy for her."

Obi-Wan's lips quirked. "If you want to convince her to join the Jedi be my guest, but I think you'll find difficulties from all parties involved. You'll find it worse from your ignorance of the dark side. Sith are not merely mirrors of the Jedi, serving the dark side as you do the light. We _command_ the Force, we do not serve it. I think even Ventress will find such a change to be… hard to swallow."

Anakin stood, face twisted, his fists clenching and unclenching as muscles in his jaw worked. "I can't do it," he growled. "I just can't, Obi-Wan. Not after everything she's done. Not with everything she could do. I've lost too much in this war. _And I could lose so much more._" To Obi-Wan's surprise, the dark side flared strongly around the younger man, and for a second he thought Anakin's blue eyes looked more green… more _golden_ than they ought to. He must not have hidden his reaction well enough, because Anakin whirled around to look at him. Whatever he saw on Obi-Wan's face broke him from his mood and the blood drained from his face. With shaking hands, the young Jedi walked towards Obi-Wan to stare at him. "What did you see, Obi-Wan?"

Obi-Wan found his throat was suddenly dry. "You," he murmured, not able to add anymore. He had known Anakin was powerful, yes, but what he had sensed in the dark side in that brief instant… He had almost felt like an Initiate again, surrounded by masters wielding power he couldn't even fully comprehend. If Anakin embraced the dark side and his full connection to the Force…

Anakin had gone, if anything, paler. "What did you sense?"

It took a moment to form the words and get them out. "The dark side is strong in you, Anakin."

His friend looked like he'd been slapped, taking a few hasty steps backwards, shaking his head. "No," he muttered. "I'm a Jedi. I have to be a Jedi."

Obi-Wan hesitated a moment. "I promised to tell you everything, Anakin, but there are some things you may not be prepared to hear," he said to his friend. Anakin, face still white, seemed to have frozen to the spot, but Obi-Wan could almost _feel_ his burning need to know. "There are those with an _active_ interest in seeing you Fall."

Anakin's eyes blew wide. "I can't do this," he realized out loud.

"Killing Ventress out of revenge and anger would be another step away from the Jedi, yes," Obi-Wan told his friend reluctantly. "But you just said you couldn't allow her to live either."

"I know what I said!" Anakin snapped.

Obi-Wan stared at his friend, mind ticking over. "Talk with Ventress," he finally said.

"What?"

"This is a trial you must face," Obi-Wan said, "and there's only one person who will resolve this dilemma for you. Talk with Ventress."

Anakin's fists clenched so hard that Obi-Wan could see blood dripping from his left hand where his nails had pierced his flesh. It took visible effort, but Anakin finally began walking towards the door to Ventress' prison. "For the first time I'm actually glad you're a Sith Lord," he turned around and told Obi-Wan with a bitter smile that had little humor. "You're worse than Master Qui-Gon."

With that he disappeared through the doorway, and Obi-Wan didn't have to wait long before Siri came out, eyes back to their normal blue-green with the dark side emptied from her. She looked at her husband inquisitively, but Obi-Wan merely stared at the doorway for a few minutes. "Inducting Ventress without telling Anakin would have been a breach of his trust," Obi-Wan finally said by way of explanation. "Rather unfortunately, that gives him the choice of executing her." He smiled grimly, humorlessly. "Fighting on opposite sides of a war for almost three years will do that."

"Do you think he'll kill her?" Siri asked, looking annoyed. Obi-Wan supposed that she had been looking forward to training Ventress.

He shook his head, thinking back to Anakin's close brush with the dark side. "No. Not anymore," he replied. "But then Anakin has never one to conform to expectations," he added, suddenly picturing returning to find Ventress' headless corpse.

•

"Commander," Obi-Wan greeted, smiling at the red-helmeted clone trooper who had quietly entered his office. CC-1010 (as he was to the Kaminoans and the Grand Army of the Republic) or Fox (as he was to his friends and comrades) was another of the few genuine friendships that Obi-Wan had developed after the death of his master. Genuine or no, that didn't mean that Obi-Wan — or, rather, Consilus — hadn't originally sought him out for a reason. Head of the Coruscant Guard, Fox was one of the most powerful men in the Republic and kept the position through a mixture of loyalty, unrelenting competency, and the fact that few people in the Republic realized just how truly powerful the Coruscant Guard was. Clone troopers fully in charge of the capital of the Republic, there were few major events that could happen on Coruscant without Fox at least tacitly approving them. Suffice it to say that Consilus was not one of those in ignorance. "Could I interest you in a drink? I'm glad to say I can indulge your taste for Mandalorian whiskeys today."

"Not on duty, thank you, Senator," Fox replied, and Obi-Wan's smile faded.

"Ah," he replied succinctly, placing the bottle he had saved back into its rack, one not nearly so large or impressive as the ones in his main apartment or, for that matter, in the Kryze summer house on Concordia. "To what do I owe the pleasure then, Commander?"

Fox looked uncomfortable, and Obi-Wan quickly gestured that he take a seat, rising from behind his desk to join the man across a low table, an arrangement tucked away in the corner of his Senate offices. Only when his fussing finally began to get on the clone's nerves did Fox realize what Obi-Wan's game was and the man finally loosened up, shooting the Senator a dark look when Obi-Wan's lips tugged in a grin.

"Technically I'm not here," Fox began, and Obi-Wan's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Few were the clones known so much for their adherence to the law as Fox, but few too were those who knew that Fox's loyalty and sense of duty ran much deeper. "You requested to be informed of anti-Jedi leads the Guard is aware of. We've just come across a big one." He looked around as though to make sure no one was watching, and Obi-Wan waved his hand reassuringly.

"Relax, Commander. I assure you I am far more paranoid a man than you are. Not even a Jedi would be able to spy here."

If Fox didn't look convinced he at least relaxed. "There's a plot to bomb the Jedi Temple," he stated without preamble.

"You know this for sure?"

Fox looked uncomfortable. "Not for sure. Not enough for protocol at least, but _I'm_ sure. If I had more than rumors and my own instincts I could tell the Jedi, but…"

"But it goes against regulations."

"Yes, Senator."

"I see," Obi-Wan replied, "but a talk with a friend which might happen to include some personal feelings about work falls quite outside of regulations."

"Something like that, yes," Fox replied.

"So, tell me of these suspicions."

"Anti-Jedi sentiment has been growing substantially in the last few months, but it's always been limited to protesting. We've heard rumors some groups are dissatisfied with inaction and are looking to do something that will make the Jedi pay attention."

Obi-Wan looked at him penetratingly. "Something has bumped this up the priority list, I think. Threats of violence are common, but the ability to carry them out is less so."

Fox returned his stare. "One of our informants thinks there's a Jedi involved."

Obi-Wan sat back immediately, mind already racing. "But you're not sure."

Fox shifted uncomfortably. "No," he replied. "The informant is… unreliable. But I believe a Jedi _is_ involved. Call it a hunch, but my hunches haven't led me wrong yet."

"No," Obi-Wan murmured. "They haven't."

"There's one other thing, Senator," Fox said, and the look on his face was unlike anything Obi-Wan had seen before. "There are chips in our heads," he said, voice strained. "I overheard some of the more… unprincipled Senators talking about them and did some research." He stared hard at Obi-Wan, for all that he was a few inches shorter, as though trying to see through him and into him. "I don't think they do what the Senate says they do. I don't think most know about them. I don't think the Jedi know."

Obi-Wan stared right back. "Thank you for this information, Commander," he said slowly. "Unfortunately this matter will have to wait. I believe the Kaminoans are overdue for an inspection from the Senate, and it would be remiss of me not to perform my duties to the fullest extent."

Fox's look was hard, but beneath it was a tacit understanding. "I'm loyal to my brothers," he said, quiet but fierce. "I protect the Senate, but I don't trust Senators." _But I do trust you,_ the unspoken words came.

"Very admirable, Commander," Obi-Wan murmured. "But I believe I've taken up enough of your time. It's just come to my attention that I have several pressing matters to attend to. If you'll excuse me…?"

"Of course, Senator."

•

It hadn't taken as long as Obi-Wan had expected, now that he knew what he was looking for. The purview of rogue Sith Lords was considerably greater than that of the Republic Judicial Forces or even of the Coruscant Guard, and it hadn't taken him much time at all to identify the group Fox had spoken about. Some surveillance — by Rheva and new apprentice Ventress, who had yet to be bestowed a name — had revealed that there was indeed a Jedi involved, though the exact identity was still a mystery. Young and female were about the only identifications Rheva and Ventress had been able to make, though Obi-Wan privately thought it wasn't outside the realm of possibility for even those two aspects to be disguised.

It therefore fell to him to discover for himself. The plan for the Temple bombing was apparently moving into high gear, and Obi-Wan had to admit he was mildly impressed by it. While Temple security had grown during the war, it was still nothing special, the Jedi relying purely on the Force, in their hubris or docility, to protect them. Nevertheless, that did not mean it was _easy_ to bomb the Temple and so the idea to sneak explosive nano-droids in by dosing a Temple worker was quite crafty — if also extremely ruthless. Explosive nano-droids were not easy to come by, however, and so the Jedi had arranged to meet with some of the would-be terrorists in order to deliver it in person, a perfect way for Obi-Wan to ambush whoever it was himself.

What he didn't expect was to be greeted by the sight of dead terrorists scattered around an abandoned warehouse lit by the eery red light of an ignited 'saber held up to the Jedi's throat by a deceptively-slight-looking, dark-cloaked figure. As soon as he had entered and found the scene, the tight hold on the Force Sidious — and it could only be the Sith Master himself, Obi-Wan had no doubt — had been maintaining was released, allowing the Force to wash full of darkness, the terror of the Jedi most evident at all.

Obi-Wan himself felt his heart seize as he took in the scene. _It's too soon,_ he thought. He was not yet ready to take on Sidious, let alone on the Sith Master's own terms. For better or worse he needed the Sith Lord to execute the Sith plan and destroy the Republic, and for a moment Obi-Wan considered simply fleeing the scene. Under no circumstances could Sidious discover his true identity — and that was the least of his troubles, considering he had a mere twenty-four years of experience in the dark side compared to Palpatine's probably over fifty.

The Sith Master seemed to sense his thoughts, however, because he clucked his tongue disapprovingly.

"Do not be so hasty to leave, my mysterious friend," Sidious murmured in a soft, horrible voice. "After all, this gathering was arranged for _you_ and your friends would simply _die _were you to miss it," he continued, and with a pit in his stomach Obi-Wan peered to see what Sidious had stepped aside to reveal. There, lying on the duracrete of the warehouse behind the Sith, were Siri and Ventress. For the first time in many years, Obi-Wan felt true fear rush through him, and it took considerable effort to keep it hidden from his rival Sith. Damn it all, why hadn't he investigated when Siri had neglected to com him that evening? "Though I'm sure the discussions we could have in your absence would be most… enlightening."

Gritting his teeth, Obi-Wan did the opposite of his original intention and stepped forward into the warehouse.

"There, my friend," Sidious projected with false amiability. "Now, perhaps we could have some discussions of our own."

Not for the first time, Obi-Wan was exceedingly grateful that the helmet of the Mandalorian armor Bo-Katan had insisted — over both Obi-Wan and Satine's protests, at least until Bo-Katan had won her sister over by pointing out it was for their husband's protection — be made for him included a voice modulator. Not only did it make him sound much more intimidating, it also disguised his voice, though not enough for Obi-Wan's comfort when it came to dealing with the most powerful Sith in the galaxy. It was also, unfortunately, rather more distinctive than he would have preferred Palpatine to see, even with everything Bo-Katan and Satine had done to it.

"Let us discuss how my friends came to be gathered here, then," he told Sidious, and felt something disturbingly close to empathy when Sidious smiled in a recognition of the game they were both now a part of.

"If that is what you wish, my friend," Sidious replied with faux-grace. "Our little Jedi here" — Sidious squeezed the Jedi, whom Obi-Wan now distantly recognized as the friend of Anakin's apprentice Ahsoka, Barriss Offee, a fellow padawan, and Obi-Wan would deal with that revelation _later_ and shoved the emotions aside… — "was kind enough to have incapacitated that little spy of yours" — he gestured to Ventress — "before I arrived. It wasn't long before your other friend here came investigating. I will confess, I did not expect to see young Miss Tachi alive after all these years. What other fascinating secrets are there to discover, I wonder?"

Obi-Wan shifted his weight, trying to figure out a way to come out of this as anything other than humiliatingly defeated. If only Siri — or even Ventress — would just _wake up._ "Many, I'm sure," he replied. "Such as why you decided to arrange this at all."

"Such questions, my friend," Sidious said. "This is starting to seem less like a conversation and more like an interrogation, but I can indulge you, for the moment." Obi-Wan inclined his head silently. "I must confess that you wound me. After all, after seeing what you did to my former apprentice on Mandalore I could not help _but_ begin investigating you. You are quite the enigma, a most wondrous puzzle." Inwardly, Obi-Wan cursed. Facing Maul and freeing Mandalore had been risky, but dammit, what else had he been supposed to do? He had known Sidious would be suspicious, but he'd hoped the rival Sith would assume it was the work of rogue Jedi or the Jedi themselves, before he'd known Sidious was Palpatine and had access to every level of the Jedi. And unfortunately there weren't many rogue Jedi still around either, still less Sidious couldn't account for. Blast.

"Ah, that unfortunate business," Obi-Wan replied even as his mind raced. He needed help, that was clear, and he was not above admitting it, but that had few options. Both his Mandalorian wives were too far away and even if he had any other Force-users serving him Sidious would feel his call on the dark side. Then inspiration struck him: Anakin. He could call Anakin, draw on the light side to do it. With any luck, Sidious would not expect a Sith to do such a thing or even be able to feel it.

Then Obi-Wan reconsidered. Doing so would put Anakin not merely in danger of battle — lessened for the fact he was absolutely certain Sidious wanted Anakin as his apprentice — but in danger of having his connection to Obi-Wan revealed. Obi-Wan needed some way to hide the coincidence, but how? How could Anakin possibly arrive without Sidious thinking Obi-Wan was responsible?

His eyes flicked to the terrified Barriss Offee and inspiration dawned.

"I'm afraid Maul and his… apprentice were a loose end I couldn't leave flying in the breeze," Obi-Wan continued, even as he reached out with the long-neglected light side to touch upon Offee. He hoped she was subtle enough not to react at his touch and give him away to the opposing Sith Master. To his relief, if anything Offee seemed to be glad of feeling what she thought was another Jedi, which Obi-Wan thought was strange for a would-be anti-Jedi terrorist. Nevertheless, she allowed him to connect to her with only the smallest of promptings, seemingly in wonder that he was able to do so at all, and with only a small hesitation he sent the thought to her. _Call Ahsoka. Call Ahsoka._

"He was indeed," Sidious agreed as Obi-Wan watched on with growing annoyance. He had withdrawn his touch but still hadn't felt the powerful draw on the Force that would tell him Offee had done as he wanted. "But I had plans for my wayward former apprentice."

Finally, _finally_ Offee extended her Force senses, seeming to have come to a resolution, and with a focused, controlled probe lashed out towards the Jedi Temple, towards Padawan Tano, with everything she was feeling. Attuned as he was, Obi-Wan could feel the fear, the hope, the anger, the remorse, the sadness, and the resolute determination to _survive._ It was a mustering of power impressive for a mere apprentice and Obi-Wan had no doubt that Tano — and, by extension, Anakin — would soon arrive.

His relief almost got the better of him and it certainly got the better of Offee.

"Foolish girl," Sidious hissed, and Obi-Wan felt a muted sense of horror as he watched a second shaft of red light spear through Offee's stomach. The girl stiffened as she was run through, an action so quick she hadn't had time to register the pain, and only when she looked down was Obi-Wan able to sense the heady rush of emotions through the Force.

Sidious withdrew his blade and Offee let out a blood-curdling scream.

Just enough of a distraction for Obi-Wan to draw on the Force, wrap it around Offee and Ventress and his wife, and pull them towards him and then fling them behind him. It was just a split second too quick for Sidious to stop, but Sidious was _fast _anyway. He was faster than anyone Obi-Wan had ever fought and only barely did he manage to ignite the pale blue blade he used to masquerade as a Jedi before Sidious could bisect him. For a second red blade was joined against blue before both Sith Masters retreated.

"So much for pleasant discussions," Obi-Wan muttered loud enough for Sidious to hear.

Sidious' mouth just twisted halfway between a smile and a grimace.

* * *

**Last edited: 2019/6**


	8. Trust

**A/N — Yeah, turns out weekly updates was complete bullshit. I'm sure it's no surprise I struggled with this chapter and, like the last one, I'm truly still not happy with it, but I'm losing sleep over this and wanted to get it out. I may or may not come back and re-edit it later.**

**I think I might end up pushing it a bit past ten chapters, since chapter 10 will actually be the first RotS-era chapter (finally?), sort of. I figure that plus two or three more and then an epilogue should wrap this up, so… fourteen chapters? Seems daunting when it's taken this long to get to chapter 8.**

* * *

**Chapter VIII:**_ Trust_

•

Most lightsaber fights, like all fights, were short affairs. Even evenly matched opponents would only go on until one gained an advantage — by intervention of the Force, by chance, by that slightest difference in skill, by sudden ingenuity, by any number of other things — that would snowball into more until the fight ended. Most fights were shorter than that, a skilled application of the better opponent's blade that made short work of his adversary, and certainly not an even trade back and forth that stretched on for minutes and minutes and minutes.

All the more reason, then, that fights which prolonged and ebbed and flowed were so regaled. Pity then, Obi-Wan thought, that none would be witness to this fight save himself and Sidious. It was the hardest fight he had ever experienced, and for all that he had been forged in combat across numerous worlds from the heart of the Republic to the depths of Wild Space against many fierce enemies in his time with the Mandalorians he had never been in a fight like this.

Sidious, he thought, had to be the best lightsaber duelist he had ever faced. He hadn't faced many, granted, but those he had faced were widely considered to be the best in the galaxy, and Sidious was _better._ He used the recognizable forms of lightsaber combat, but in ways Obi-Wan could barely anticipate, ways he had only just begun to imagine for himself, still trapped in the thinking of the Jedi who had raised him and the still-rigid traditions of the Sith who had trained him.

At first Sidious had seemed to be enjoying the fight, a slash of a grin on his wrinkled face, but as it had gone on and Obi-Wan's 'saber skills had proved at least a temporary match for the Sith Master's own he had grown grim and serious. Now, Obi-Wan knew, the other Sith was trying absolutely to kill him. Every slash of the other Sith's red blade, every thrust, every cut, every stab was done with merciless, fatal intent. Naturally, Obi-Wan responded in kind, but his highest calling had always been Soresu, the ultimate defense, and he aimed to survive Sidious, not kill him — not yet.

Of course, there were multiple levels to a lightsaber duel. What Obi-Wan had learned that few Jedi had was that _tactical_ defense didn't mean _strategic _defense; though Soresu was not about striking at an opponent, its unbreakable defense meant a practitioner could relentlessly advance unhindered. Unfortunately, it seemed as though Sidious was just as unorthodox with his fighting as Obi-Wan was. Yet what had he expected? They were the pinnacle of the Sith, and it was only right that they should each have honed lightsaber fighting to previously unknown heights. Obi-Wan might be the greatest master of Soresu, but Sidious was at least equal in his offense to Obi-Wan's defense.

Even as their blades clashed over and over and over, the larger battle of mind against mind played out, physical and in the Force. Even as Obi-Wan tried to outmaneuver his opponent, Sidious was doing the same, pushing or pulling or coaxing Obi-Wan where he wanted him while he was pushed and pulled and coaxed in turn. And all the while they strove to find in the other an opening in the Force, an opportunity to use those most arcane of powers against the other.

The fight lulled and the two Sith Masters broke apart, circling the other predatorily. Blue so intense it burned almost white pointed towards Sidious while Sidious' own two red blades hung loosely at the old man's sides. Obi-Wan was breathing hard, even his command of the Force not fully sparing his body the strain, and his forehead and hair were wet with perspiration. Sidious, on the other hand, didn't even look _winded._

The fight needed to end and soon. Even as he eyed the other Sith, looking for an opening, Obi-Wan stretched out with the Force, trying to feel anything at all: his wife, her apprentice, Barriss Offee, or even, hopefully, Anakin. Siri and Ventress were indistinct, the murky muteness in the Force that signaled a being deeply unconscious. Offee, by contrast, radiated brilliantly in the Force as she tried and failed to regulate her pain and emotions, tried to call upon it to heal herself. And, finally, Obi-Wan got the vague hint of what he'd been hoping for. There was a brightness in the Force that was quickly growing stronger, rippling waves radiating in front of it to wash over Obi-Wan, faint but unmistakable.

"Come now," Sidious finally said. "You are clearly very skillful. Why do we fight while the Jedi approach? You can feel them as well as I can. Join me, and I will complete your training in the ways of the Sith."

"And what of Dooku?" Obi-Wan asked.

Sidious' smile returned. "Dooku's time will come. He is an old man, and soon I will have need of a new apprentice, for he will not survive forever." _And I know your choice,_ Obi-Wan thought. "Join me."

This was it, Obi-Wan realized. This was where he went from a curiosity to Sidious to a threat. As he considered his answer, he hoped he'd covered his tracks well enough to at least delay Palpatine. Obi-Wan was doubtless known as Force-sensitive, putting him on a short list of suspects, but the end of the war, the end of the Republic, the end of _Sidious_, was so near he could almost _taste _it, and Sidious no doubt could too. Would that drive him to eliminate any threat or serve to distract him enough for Obi-Wan to slip through the cracks? It was a gamble he had to take.

He licked his lips nervously, a betrayal of his usual stoicism thankfully hidden behind his helmet. "The first and only reality of the Sith," he repeated, words from long ago, from his Sith grandmaster to his master to him, ironic though they were. "There can only be two." Palpatine's smile warped into something ugly. "And I am no longer an apprentice."

"So be it," Sidious sneered, "_master._"

And with that, Darth Sidious was unveiled for the first time. If Obi-Wan had doubted Palpatine's true nature, his doubts were all now washed away. The Force, great and terrible, seized him, and the dark side roared in his ears as it fled from his command to that of _the _master of the dark side. For an instant he was like a tiny tree bent by the hurricane, a mere twig squeezed between the fingers of an enormous, invisible giant of the sky, merely a tensing of fingers away from being snapped in two.

For an instant sheer terror filled him, but the emotion fled as quickly as it had come. Instead, Obi-Wan's steel will came to the fore and, though already exhausted, the other Sith Master bent his mind fully on commanding the Force. This was no longer a duel of 'sabers but a contest of mastery of the Force. Obi-Wan opened himself fully as he drew on the strength of the Force's full breadth, mind straining with the effort, and, ever so slowly, the giant shrank just enough, just until he could bend himself back from the brink of snapping.

Nevertheless it held him, and to his dismay Obi-Wan noticed his lightsaber flicking off, his own fingers suborned to a greater will and pressing the deactivation switch themselves. His arm moved against his will, dropping the lightsaber hilt to the ground, and before Obi-Wan was aware of it the dark shadow of the giant loomed over him. He jerked to look up, almost surprised that Sidious' figure was its normal, diminutive stature and not towering over him. Then he realized he was on one knee in front of the dark master, and he struggled to push himself up.

With a wave of Sidious' hand, a crushing weight fell upon Obi-Wan, and it took nearly all his strength just to stay unbowed. A low cackle emerged from the other Sith, a throaty, malicious thing, and Obi-Wan realized that despite everything Sidious was still _enjoying _this. He could taste blood in his mouth as he struggled. As Sidious lifted a hand, he knew what was coming and somehow found the strength he needed to lift up his own arm just in time. Like swimming through burning tar, it was strength-sucking agony to hold his palm out to catch Sidious' lightning. It took what little strength he had to spare to catch the Force energy and redirect it and he screamed from the torment.

Twice more he was struck and managed to redirect it, his shields and command of the Force wavering as they absorbed the attack, and Obi-Wan realized that was the point. If nothing else, Sidious would recognize his Force signature if his shields were to fall, even if he didn't capture or kill him, and the game would be up. A third and then a fourth time Sidious struck him, but his shields held as he redirected the lightning, and the other Sith's cackling turned into a growl. A fifth barrage struck Obi-Wan, and this time his command of the Force failed to be enough to stop the lightning, the dark Force energy grabbing his body and ripping agonized screams from it. His shields flickered, and Obi-Wan realized he might have pushed beyond his limit. How many more barrages could he endure? A sixth blast of lightning and he lost focus, the protections in his mind sending horrific spikes of pain into it as Sidious forced his mind onto Obi-Wan's, before it receded and he pushed the protections firmly back into place. The same with a seventh barrage. One or two more and it would be over.

The eighth didn't come. Instead something rushed over him, wild and bright and extraordinarily powerful, a mighty wind even a hurricane could not stand toe to toe with. The shadow retreated, driven away before the onrushing light, and the pressure against Obi-Wan receded. Gasping and shuddering, he fell down on his arm, barely able to keep himself off the ground and not vomiting inside his helmet. Then he opened his eyes and lost his breath, only partly because of his exhaustion.

He had long known that Anakin was a master lightsaber wielder, perhaps the greatest practitioner in the galaxy of the powerful Form V variant Djem So, but it was quite another thing to witness it, especially against Sidious. There the Jedi stood, his blue blade landing unrelentingly aggressive blows against Sidious' own reds. For a second he thought Sidious had met his match, but though Anakin was powerful in the Force he was not a master of it and nor was he the master of 'sabers that Sidious was. Now, Obi-Wan realized, his theory about Sidious' plans for Anakin would truly be put to the test. His friend's life could be in very real danger.

But not, it seemed, as much as he had feared. Leaping down from the roof, another Jedi joined the fray, and Obi-Wan felt his heart stop as he recognized the brilliant green blade and powerful, tall frame. Of all the Jedi he had most worried about, Qui-Gon Jinn was top of the list. No Jedi was so in tune with the Living Force at the expense of everything else and therefore no Jedi was more likely to figure out his secret. Master Jinn had been the one to first realize and accept the truth of the return of the Sith, and Obi-Wan had few doubts his perception would fail him now.

For the moment, though, Qui-Gon was distracted as his own mastery of Form IV was put to the test against the greatest 'saber master in the galaxy. Watching some of the greatest swordsmen in history fight was awe-inspiring, and for a second Obi-Wan even felt irrationally ashamed despite knowing he could stand toe-to-toe with each of them. The feeling passed when another shape stopped quickly by him, and he recognized Ahsoka Tano.

"Are you okay?" she yelled over the sounds of the fight, and Obi-Wan nodded. "Okay! Go help Barriss! We'll take it from here!" And with that she sped off to join her — somehow, impossibly — struggling master and grandmaster against Sidious.

Sluggishly, Obi-Wan's mind started ticking over again, and he forced himself to his feet before moving, pace quickening with every step even as his muscles twinged and quivered, to the dying Barriss Offee. The Fallen Jedi Padawan was still lying on the ground in an agony that had been drowned out in the Force by Obi-Wan's mental fight with Sidious. She still clutched at the probably-fatal wound gaping through her abdomen, and Obi-Wan could feel both her panic and desperate efforts to heal herself through the Force.

Whether it was just such a terrible wound or whether it was Offee's corruption by — but lack of embrace of — the dark side, Obi-Wan didn't know, but he did know as he looked at her that her efforts as they were would be in vain. His own command of the Force was completely drained by his assault from Sidious, and he knew if he attempted to heal her he would finally reach his limits and collapse. There was only one option for her survival.

"Offee," he said forcefully, and the girl turned wide, blue eyes quickly going into shock on him. "Do you want to die?" he demanded of her. She shook, mouth moving soundlessly as her emotions became too much for her battered psyche to master, but Obi-Wan felt them all the same. She didn't want to die. She was too young to die. "I'm sorry and there's no time to explain. Your only hope for the power to save yourself is the dark side. Either you die a Jedi or reject them and live."

Despite the situation, Offee somehow turned paler, pale olive green skin turning something sickly looking. "Y-You're no Jedi," she said weakly, fear battling with the heady torrent of emotions that was already ruining her. He could feel she wanted to retreat but her body was unable to obey. More than anything, though, he could feel the pull of the dark side within her. Obi-Wan considered it one of the worst aspects of himself, but there was always a little part of him that _reveled _in the corruption of Jedi from their sanctimonious hypocrisy. Barriss Offee would be a beautiful Sith.

If she didn't die.

Without answering her, he pulled out what few medical supplies were on his belt and did his best to offer what aid he could without the Force, the abuse of which he could still feel in the fires along his nerves. Offee was in no shape to stop him, breaths coming in short pants, and he quickly did his best to bind the wound Sidious had inflicted on her. The damage was extensive, a charred hole right through her abdomen that would leave an ugly scar at best, and suddenly Obi-Wan found himself doubting even the power of the dark side could save her. Grimacing, he gave her a shot of anesthetic to relieve the pain and the expanding duraplast foam she'd need to keep the wound from being infected.

There was nothing more that he could do and he had to save his wife and Ventress.

"I'm sorry," he said, leaving before the shallowly-gasping, heavily-conflicted Offee could form a reply and quickly coming to the end of the warehouse floor where Siri and Ventress had landed after he had tossed them. Both were crumpled and quite unconscious, and he inspected both quickly — Siri first — for wounds, relieved to find there were none. For a brief instant he tried to submerge himself into a screaming and abused Force, needing to feel the two, but immediately fresh agony lanced along his nerves, remembered pain from a torture long withdrawn, and he snapped up out it.

It was difficult to think past the pain, and for a second Obi-Wan almost decided to do his best to carry Siri and Ventress and escape before common sense reasserted itself. He had to see this fight through, at least for Anakin's sake. Surely, however, he, his apprentice, and his master could handle Sidious? He glanced backwards, regretting the decision when he saw Tano recovering on the ground while Qui-Gon was suspended by an invisible grip on his throat. Anakin, desperately, had his blade locked with Sidious', rendered impotent by the Sith.

Obi-Wan turned away. He needed to get Siri and Ventress awake before he could help. Out of ideas, he unclipped the smelling salts from his small medpack. "Well, I don't suppose it's the worst way I've ever woken you up," he murmured before waving them under his wife's nose. There was no response and he tried again before moving to Ventress. It took a second, but the Nightsister bolted upright, gasping and spluttering.

Before he could say anything to her, however, there was a ripple in the Force that was quickly followed by roar as it warped and shuddered. A light that had previously been nearby suddenly extinguished, replaced by a rush of darkness as hitherto unknown power was drawn on. Even Sidious lulled in the fight as Barriss Offee turned to the dark side.

"No!" Tano screamed, still collapsed to the ground. "Barriss, no!"

Obi-Wan turned to see Qui-Gon, back on his feet but with as close an expression to astounded as Obi-Wan had ever seen on his face. Anakin was looking on with an indecipherable expression, features warped in concentration and intense, controlled emotion, 'saber still locked with Sidious'. The last of them, the Sith Master himself, could not be seen in the shadows of his hood, though his eyes glowed bright gold; to Obi-Wan two tiny, menacing pinpricks in the darkness.

It was, of course, Sidious who recovered first.

With a gesture that was almost careless, Anakin was thrown aside, propelled by the Force _hard_ into some of the crates that had been left in the warehouse, two of the dead would-be terrorists flung at him for good measure. At the same time, Tano let out a blood-curdling scream from the floor as she was subjected to the Sith's Force lightning, Anakin crying out in rage even as he was flying through the air. Obi-Wan could barely blink before Sidious had somehow moved, elegantly flying around the disoriented Qui-Gon before a shaft of burning red speared through the Jedi Master, and the Force shuddered with the Jedi Master's controlled agony.

"Ventress, get Offee out of here! Go!" Obi-Wan shouted desperately, mouth moving for once faster than his brain.

Ventress didn't wait and flew up. Even still disoriented and recovering, she was a fearsome athlete and had Offee in her arms before the girl could even protest. Good as Sidious was, he wasn't fast enough to stop her Force-assisted leap into the rafters and then out through a hole in the roof. Quick as a flash, Ventress was away. Even as she was, Anakin had made a startlingly quick recovery and was lunging at Sidious with enraged, powerful attacks to protect his fallen master and student. Obi-Wan himself was turning to find his wife again, only to be surprised to find she was up and… wrong!

Something was off.

He barely had time to say "Siri!" before she was moving away… towards Sidious.

Something was terribly wrong. Desperately, Obi-Wan reached out through the Force to his wife, searing torment battering his already fragile psyche, only to find the same muted blankness he had felt during her unconsciousness. There was no reaction as he probed her, even as he followed her sprint towards the exit behind Sidious. He didn't have time for this! Out of other options, he drew on the last of his strength with the Force and lunged at her, tackling his wife to the ground and holding her down with his superior weight and strength. Siri struggled against him desperately, but it was nothing compared to how he had to fight to keep her down when Sidious renewed his attentions.

At another time, Obi-Wan might have been in awe that the other Sith could fight Anakin Skywalker, one of the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy, with one hand while subduing both a Jedi and Sith Master with the other. Now, however, his world was reduced to the rivers of fire along his nerves and through his veins as he fought against the fresh Force lightning. His senses diminished to a small existence of pain, muscles clenching, jerking, and screaming in abuse as they writhed under the barrage, but somehow he managed to keep them about Siri. Distantly he was aware of a man — or men? — screaming, but his own ears were filled with the roar of blood that seemed to be boiling in his veins and it was lost.

Then, it seemed, his world went white as the Force seemed to bend beyond its limit — did the Force have a limit? — and break.

Obi-Wan knew no more.

* * *

**Last edited: 2019/9**


	9. Secrets

**A/N — Longest break for the longest chapter! Anyone? Anyone? No? Okay.**

**I think you can tell I struggled a bit with this chapter. I realized I'd written myself into a corner with the last chapter and had to sort out how I was going to handle several plot threads. That took some time (obviously) but overall I'm pretty happy with this chapter and what's coming, at least plot-wise. It's been so long that I wanted to get this one out ASAP, so the technical quality of the writing might have suffered (if mine is any good to begin with). After the last chapter with its action this is a very talky one but I hope the next few won't be. We'll see.**

**Currently my plan (for those interested) is looking like this:**

**Chapter 10: Kamino.**

**Chapter 11: End of TCW-era timeline.**

**Chapter 12: Tying off loose TCW ends and ushering in RotS-era. Could end up going long (we have a bunch of material to cover, but I'm worried about slowing the pace too much).**

**Chapter 13: Fic finale.**

**Chapter 14: Epilogue.**

**Guess we'll see how it goes. Hard to believe it's almost been a year since I published this fic.**

* * *

**Chapter IX: **_Secrets_

•

Life, for one Anakin Skywalker, was not good. That seemed like an uncharitable thing to say when he had been raised from among the lowest lows in the Republic to its shining star and brightest hope, but somewhere along the way Anakin had realized that all the glamor and fame didn't seem to make up for everything else life threw at him. Some days he wondered if it might not have been better that he had remained a slave; a small, out-of-the-way life where his greatest ambition — to free himself and his mother — would not only have been eminently achievable but would have had a definite end.

Nothing he did now seemed to have a definite end. The Republic seemed more corrupt and broken than ever, the war with the Separatists merely dragging it to the breaking point and laying all its flaws bare for all to see. The war itself seemed to drag on and on, and even though they had long stormed and taken the heartworlds of the Separatist cause in bloody, horrific battles their droid production was higher than ever and the war was now almost fully in the Outer Rim, the largest front in galactic warfare that had ever been seen, dozens upon dozens of worlds that would all have to be stormed and purged down to the last hole. The Jedi were falling apart at the seams, the Council growing more ineffectual and divided by the day as the war and the Republic called everything they were founded on into question. The Senate was becoming increasingly fragmented and divided, competing interests that had once been subsumed into the Republic's imperial order now bubbling to the surface in volatile, angry reactions. Friends were turning against friends, and it seemed as though everyone was scheming for something. It felt like Anakin was being torn apart in every direction, every loyalty he had been called into question as it sought to invalidate the others. Every decision he made seemed to be wrong and Anakin was beginning to wonder if there was a right decision to be made. He tried to be better, tried to improve himself and work on his flaws, but how was he to do that when he didn't even know what were flaws and what were virtues?

To top off all that was wrong in the universe before, now Anakin knew Count Dooku was right, even partially.

Before the war had even started, the Separatist leader had tried to sway Anakin's master and Dooku's former student, Qui-Gon Jinn, into joining his cause. He had told the maverick Jedi that a Sith Lord was inside the Republic, in control of it even. Qui-Gon hadn't believed him, and neither had any of the other Jedi, including Anakin. At least until now, after who could only be Dooku's Sith Master had _stabbed Qui-Gon_.

Anakin's fist clenched, emotions threatening to spill over as he thought of his master in a critical condition only a short distance away in the healing ward. His fate was cloudy, Yoda had said, and every time Anakin had tried to sense his master's future it was always veering rapidly between sudden mortality and a long life yet to come. It had Anakin almost at the breaking point, for he had never truly contemplated trying to find his way in the universe without Qui-Gon. The man had always been there to guide him, ever since their first, fateful meeting when Anakin had begun his steps into manhood and a wider universe.

"–––to add, Knight Skywalker?" Master Windu's voice broke his train of thought, and Anakin blinked.

"No, master," he replied. He'd already told them all he could, a delicate balancing act between revealing as much as he could about the Sith he, Ahsoka, and Qui-Gon had fought and not revealing Obi-Wan to the Council. It made him feel a little guilty, until he remembered all they had lied to _him_ about. Obi-Wan was his friend, and the Council could shove any thoughts about sticking him in a cell _or worse _right up their––– well. He'd seen them argue enough, seen the consequences of their misinformed decisions enough, to know they couldn't be trusted with Obi-Wan's secret, especially now Anakin knew for certain there was a greater Sith Master around doing who knew what. Not to say the Council hadn't been _immensely _curious about the mysterious and apparently rogue Jedi Master that had aided in the fight before revealing himself to be in league with Ventress and ordering the kidnapping of Jedi Padawan Barriss Offee. Luckily there were things they were _more_ interested in.

"Not even about this… hole in the Force you created?" Master Windu continued probing, referring to the rip in the Force Anakin had created when he had bent all his will towards defeating the Sith Master to save his friend, his padawan, and his mortally-wounded master. It had worked, to an extent, when the Sith Master had fled, but Anakin felt as if that had been the man's — if it was a man — goal anyway.

Anakin resisted the urge to scratch the back of his neck sheepishly. "No, master," he repeated, and Master Windu hummed in that disapproving way Anakin so hated.

"Disturbing news indeed, this is," Master Yoda pronounced, preempting any continued interrogation. Anakin wondered if the old master had already come to his own conclusions about whatever it was Anakin had done when battling the Sith. "Elsewhere, we had hoped Dooku's master would be, yes. But suspected this, we have. Dark is the heart of the Republic, late though we have realized it. The Sith, perhaps, or perhaps not. Dangerous to the Republic, this Sith Lord is. Take steps, we must, to save the Republic."

Which were dangerous words these days, since everyone seemed to have a different idea of what that meant. What everything meant, it seemed. Obi-Wan's voice came back to him: _'There are those with an _active_ interest in seeing you Fall.' _Anakin suppressed a shiver. The Sith Lord was dangerous to the Republic, but Anakin couldn't shake the feeling he was more dangerous to the Jedi, and he himself in particular. And besides, sometimes he had to wonder if the Republic was even worth preserving when it was turning even his beloved wife, his best friend, and the Jedi Order itself into a bunch of conniving, manipulating _sleemos._

A theme that was, apparently, going to continue, Anakin judged when the Council exchanged looks with each other. "That will be all, Knight Skywalker," Master Windu dismissed him, and not for the first time Anakin wondered if the Chancellor wasn't right about the Council not trusting him despite being one of their most effective and important generals, about the Council excluding him unjustly, and whether Palpatine wasn't right to be growing more and more worried about the Jedi Order and their plans for the Republic.

"Yes, master," he replied automatically, a habit he wondered if he'd ever be able to leave behind.

•

Obi-Wan awoke and immediately regretted it when burning pains erupted over his body. Reflexively, he called on the Force and was surprised but grateful when it flowed just as happily as it ever had. Blinking, his eyes gradually adjusted to a featureless white ceiling and the accompanying cheap lighting and he did his best to sit up. Pain flared, but now that he was aware of it he recognized it mostly as being a residual psychic pain in the Force — no doubt from the prolonged torture at the hands of Palpatine — than a physical one. Even still, he grimaced and was not surprised when he looked down to find crudely-applied bacta patches covering him like incompetently-made polka-dots.

A flurry of beeps alerted him to his company, and Obi-Wan looked up to see a familiar blue astromech droid wheel up to him. Even if Obi-Wan hadn't recognized his friend's constant droid companion, the holo-message the droid played would have tipped him off. Even in the hologram Anakin looked tired, and the blue of the projection threw the dark circles around his eyes into stark contrast. His mouth was a thin, hard line and not for the first time Obi-Wan reflected on how intimidating Anakin could look unwittingly.

"Obi-Wan, I know you have questions and will probably wake up sooner than I expect, but stay put. The house is safe, trust me, but Artoo told me you're in no condition to be up. Siri's safe too, but she hasn't woken up yet. We'll talk when I get back."

"So overdramatic," Obi-Wan sighed to himself, though he was mostly relieved that his wife had suffered no apparent or lasting damage from Sidious' attentions. He hefted his legs over the side of the bed and tested his weight on his feet. The droid immediately zoomed forward to wack into him and Obi-Wan barely moved away in time. Apparently his reflexes were still dulled. A flurry of angry-sounding beeps accompanied the attack, and the man did his best to swat away the droid. "Yes, yes, I heard the message quite well, thank you, but _you_ are no medical droid." More angry-sounding beeping was the response to that, and Obi-Wan held the droid at bay with a held-out palm and very welcome returned Force-sensitivity. "I assure you that _not_ leaving this room in the next little while will be more detrimental to my health than leaving it. If my cover hasn't already been blown, that is."

The droid seemed to accept that, but Obi-Wan had to remind himself that this was _Anakin's_ favorite droid when it decided to follow after him as he left the safe-house.

•

Obi-Wan's cover, it turned out, had not been blown, at least so far as he could tell by the time he walked back into the safe-house and released his hold on the Force. Instantly the pain and aches and physical limitations he had temporarily suppressed during his attendance in the Senate flooded back to him, and he would have fallen to the ground in a very undignified manner if an arm didn't come out of nowhere to hold him upright.

"What were you thinking?!" Anakin demanded, face now a mixture of the anger he was trying to hold onto and the concern leaking through.

Obi-Wan, suddenly dazed and in pain without the aid of the Force, didn't have the energy to deal with someone trying to manage him after more than a decade of being his own master. Really, he already had three wives and didn't need Anakin playing the part of a worried fourth. Judging by Anakin's surprised and annoyed look, he thought he might have said the thought aloud. "You're not my keeper," he tried to reply to his friend, but thought it came out slurred.

"No, I'm your friend, and friends tell you when you're being a karking idiot!"

By this time Obi-Wan had reached the bed and was saved from collapsing ungracefully into it by Anakin's second timely intervention.

"Vitally… necessary," Obi-Wan told him. "…Sith can't… know I was injured."

Anakin stilled. "What do you mean, Obi-Wan?" he asked slowly. "What Sith?" Obi-Wan winced, both from the agony of lying back down in the bed and what his momentary daze had allowed him to let slip to Anakin. "Obi-Wan, what Sith?!" Anakin demanded. "Where were you that there was a Sith?" Then his eyes scanned over Obi-Wan still dressed in his senatorial attire and Obi-Wan could see the gears quickly turn in the young man's head. Then he paled. "The Senate?" he whispered, horrified. "There's a Sith in the Senate?"

Obi-Wan closed his eyes and for a brief second considered misleading Anakin with the possibility of spies in the Senate before he discarded it. "Anakin…" he murmured slowly, recovering his faculties rather more sluggishly than he liked. "I promised… to tell you everything." He opened his eyes and stared at the young man. "But you must consider when and what I tell you."

Anakin's eyes blew wide. "You _know?!_ You've known who the Sith Master behind this war is the whole time and you––– you never _said _a _thing?!"_

"Anakin," Obi-Wan refused to be dissuaded. "If the Sith Lord behind this war is revealed, it will _end_. Do you understand that? You––– _we_ are all playing for higher stakes than you could understand."

Anakin was still livid. "I can't–––!"

"_Anakin_," Obi-Wan demanded. "Do you _understand?_ Do you? If the Sith Lord is revealed… if the Jedi know his identity the consequences of it will be beyond your imagining. Do you think he hasn't planned for the Jedi discovering this secret? If I tell you this now, you will be forced to make the choice you have been putting off for so long, for this entire war and longer."

"I––– I don't understand," Anakin blurted, seemingly put off his rant by Obi-Wan's uncharacteristic bluntness.

Obi-Wan stared at him grimly. "The Sith Lord is not someone you will be prepared for, Anakin. You've fought him. You know how powerful and skilled he is. He defeated one of the Order's greatest masters with ease, did it with _one hand _that he was also using to subdue _another_ Sith Master. He defeated both of us and with his other hand defeated one of the most celebrated master-padawan pairs in Jedi history. What you will face and what you will stand to lose are more than you know. Not just because of his power but because when I reveal his identity to you you will be forced to choose whose side you stand on. When he is revealed, you will have to choose between the Jedi, the Republic, me, and… others. If you'll excuse me for saying so, I don't think you're ready to make that choice."

Anakin stared at him in unadulterated horror. "H-How do you know that?"

At this Obi-Wan sighed, suddenly feeling very tired and with no energy, the daze fading somewhat. "I'm not as unobservant as you seem to think, Anakin," he said softly, trying to put his disordered thoughts in some sort of coherency. It was safe to say this was not how he had planned having this conversation with Anakin, but then he hadn't planned on facing an unimaginably powerful Sith Lord so soon either. "And I haven't known his identity this whole time, only since Maul. I only ever knew he was here, in the Senate, as the Jedi are now starting to suspect, after he–––" Obi-Wan found himself unexpectedly choking and cursed his weakness for his lack of control. "After he killed my master," he murmured finally.

Anakin looked torn beside him between wanting to remain furious and wanting to sympathize with his friend. "I'm sorry," he finally said, though it sounded strained.

Obi-Wan sighed again. "That was why I became a Senator at all. My master's death required justice." He paused and did his best to relax the sudden tenseness in his frame. "At least I thought so. I thought a lot of things, really."

Anakin hesitated then reached out a hand to grab Obi-Wan's shoulder. "But… Obi-Wan, you have to understand. If we know who the Sith Master is, we can stop him! We can stop this whole war!"

Obi-Wan snapped. "Haven't you been listening? Of course you'll stop the war! You'll stop the war and end the Republic!" The energy left him and he collapsed back on the bed. "I know what this war has cost you, Anakin. I'm trying to stop it costing you more. Stop the Sith Master? What do you think I've been trying to do?"

"And you think I can't help with that? Is that it? How are you any different from the Jedi Council?! Always demanding my trust and showing me none in return!"

"_Don't,_" Obi-Wan hissed, partially from pain and partially from anger. The dark side swelled. "Don't you dare say I haven't trusted you when I've put my life, my wife's life, in your hands."

"If you trusted me, you'd tell me! You'd trust me to help you, trust me that I can make the right call, trust me not to just fly off and attack him, trust me to _pick you!"_

_ And that_, Obi-Wan thought, _is the rub._ Because at the end of the day he wasn't sure _what_ Anakin would pick. The Chancellor was his friend, even if not his closest one, and Obi-Wan didn't need to be a Sith Master himself to imagine what Palpatine might be able to offer Anakin and tempt him. Obi-Wan knew he wasn't nearly as powerful — politically, institutionally, influentially, maybe even in the Force — as Palpatine, and a man who had manipulated an entire galaxy for decades, who had his designs on most potentially powerful Force-user to ever exist, would surely have any number of manipulations going on. _Could_ he trust Anakin to choose him over everything else? The terrifying answer was that he didn't know.

"My master is _dying,_ Obi-Wan! And you're going to let the scum-sucking Force-damned karking _sleemo_ who _stabbed him through the chest_ get away because you don't trust me enough?!" Anakin yelled at him, making Obi-Wan blink. He'd had to deal with so much else in the short time he'd been awake that Qui-Gon's fate had quite slipped his mind. Anakin didn't give him a chance to respond, however. "You owe me, Obi-Wan!" Anakin insisted darkly, breaking the silence. "You owe me for sparing _Ventress,_" he specified, spitting out the name disgustedly.

Sometimes Obi-Wan wondered why anyone would want power and influence. He sighed. "I owe you for saving my life too," he murmured.

Whatever response Anakin was going to make to that was lost when the chirrup of Anakin's commlink went off. Emotions visibly being forced away, Anakin calmed himself and looked at the commlink.

"It's Ahsoka," he told the other man. There was another pause, the commlink continuing its chirruping.

"Alright," Obi-Wan finally said. "When I return to Coruscant after my visit to Kamino, I will tell you who the Sith Master is." Anakin didn't look happy with the compromise, but Obi-Wan forestalled him: "It's your turn to trust _me_. Believe me when I tell you whatever your worst imaginings of the truth are, it is _worse_. I'm giving you this time so we can _both_ prepare." There was a pause, then… "And… I'm sorry about Qui-Gon. Our relationship is… complicated… but I know how much he means to you."

Anakin's jaw tightened but he eventually nodded stiffly. "Fine."

Obi-Wan let out a breath of relief but pinched the bridge of his nose as a new problem occurred to him. "Why is Padawan Tano calling?"

For once Anakin had the good grace to look guilty. "I… might have put her in charge of watching over your wife."

"Oh, fantastic, just fantastic," Obi-Wan replied. "Did you tell her she was a Sith Lady too or is that a surprise for when my wife wakes up and tries to kill her?"

"Don't give me that! I didn't have a lot of options for keeping her safe, alright? I did the best I could," Anakin replied defensively.

"I'm sorry," Obi-Wan said without explanation. "But shouldn't your padawan herself still be healing? She was tortured with Sith lightning and injured." Looking at Anakin's face gave him all the answer he needed. "She broke out, of course. I supposed you encouraged her?"

"No!" Anakin said very unconvincingly. "Besides, you're one to talk. Even outside the Senate you have a reputation."

"And yet I've never had to be carted back catatonic and strapped to a stretcher, repeatedly." Anakin opened his mouth but Obi-Wan preempted him. "We're keeping your padawan waiting." Anakin shot him a look but finally answered the comm.

"Master!" Padawan Tano exclaimed as soon as her small, blue figure appeared in Anakin's palm. "I was starting to get worried."

"No need to worry, Snips," Anakin replied easily, belying the tension Obi-Wan still felt in the room. "I was just catching up with Obi-Wan here." Tano's hologram turned, now being made aware of the other occupant of the room, and her posture became defensive and she withdrew into her Jedi façade. Obi-Wan hid a frown beneath his beard at the lack of subtlety. Evidently Anakin was not much for the diplomatic training Jedi Knights usually favored. Even Qui-Gon, unorthodox as he was, was known as an uncannily-able diplomat when the situation demanded. He supposed Anakin had prioritized more combat-oriented aspects of education. "It's okay, Snips, he's trustworthy."

"Right…" Tano said slowly. "Anyway… the… uh… chore you asked me to do will… uh… you'll need to finish it yourself. I'm being recalled to the Temple for the investigation and I don't think Master Che will let me escape again."

"That's fine," Anakin said. "Obi-Wan can watch over her."

"But Master–––!" Tano exclaimed before cutting herself off. She visibly struggled, and Obi-Wan had no doubt she was objecting to his ability to watch over someone she could no doubt feel was a dark-side Force-user. "Um… is he really the best person for the job?" she finally asked. "No offense, Senator, but… uh… well… you were only an Initiate. This is sort of Jedi business…" she trailed off, looking like she was cursing herself as she broke Obi-Wan's gaze.

"She's not as dangerous as you think, Snips," Anakin tried to calm his apprentice. "She's… she's part of an… operation Obi-Wan is involved in. He'll be fine."

Tano looked reluctant but acquiesced. "Well… alright. I've got fifteen minutes before I have to leave."

"We'll be there," Anakin affirmed.

"Master," Tano bowed slightly. Obi-Wan wondered if she did it when it was just her and Anakin. "Senator." She bowed to him and then the hologram flickered out.

"Well," Obi-Wan said after a beat, sliding his feet off the bed and testing his weight on the ground. "It seems we have an appointment."

Anakin was silent for a moment. "I still don't like this," he finally said.

"You'll like this even less then. There's a conspiracy to do with the clones. The Kamino inspection is a ruse to investigate it. I… was wondering whether you'd be willing to spare some men."

Obi-Wan's tone seemed to have triggered something in Anakin, and there was a hard glint in his eye. It could never be said the man wasn't protective of his men. "What do you need?" he asked.

* * *

**Last edited: 2020/2**


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